Pedigree analysis of 29 rice varieties revealed that their origin was traced to 69 ancestors, of which 25 were from India and remaining 44 from 12 different countries. Three ancestors viz., DEE-GEO-WOO-GEN, CINA and LATISAIL, were common in 24 out of 29 varieties. IR 8 had the highest foot print value followed by Peta indicating their profound influence in the pedigrees of these 29 rice varieties. Pedigree profiles also revealed that 16 out of 29 rice varieties possess genomes of indica, japonica and javanica sub spp. Clustering based on Coefficient of Co-ancestry (CoC) resulted in grouping of two major clusters with 18 and 11 varieties respectively and culminated in the identification of diverse clusters. Finally, the genetic diversity of the 29 short duration rice varieties was observed to be narrow and, therefore, necessary to broaden the genetic base of the present day rice cultivars, by bringing in genes of agronomic values from large germplasm.