01.02. What is Dowry?

What is Dowry?

Dowry is the practice of giving money or possessions by the bride’s family to the bridegroom’s family along with the giving of bride in marriage. In India, dowry negotiations are an essential prerequisite to marital bond. It can range from furniture, land, cash, gold and consumer goods, to paying the husband’s study fees and the expenses of marriage. Interestingly, the terms and conditions of dowry, which is generally based on man’s education and job, often match those of a regular business or a financial agreement.

Though it is claimed this has no religious sanction, the practice of dowry (Katnam in Telugu or Dahej in Hindi) has actually originated from Hindu social custom in India, and is an important part of Hindu marital rites. It is suspected that dowry originated in the upper caste Hindu families who could not provide for themselves sufficiently and therefore had to accept the material support along with the bride, who was another responsibility. It soon became an outlet of greed while masking itself as a voluntary gift given in marriage.

Considering the dire outcomes of the system of dowry, the Indian law, in 1961, has decreed it as illegal. Nevertheless, this practice is actively continued by most of the Hindus, even creeping into other religious communities like Islam and Christianity. These days, a dowry is no more a voluntary gift given by the bride’s family – it has become a mandatory act. And shamefully, it is rampant even among Christians who are called to live different from the world.