Question

dowry is a social evil. Explain.

Answer 1

because of this many brides are fotced for it and sometime they were killed or sucide .

Answer 2

In the early days dowry was an institution in which gifts and presents were given to a girl at the time of her marriage when she was required to leave her parents’ home and join her husband’s household. But, in course of time, it became a crude institution resulting in female infanticide, suicide, bride-burning and other indignities and cruelties.

The problem of dowry has become a serious social evil among the upper castes and middle classes both in towns and villages. The rules of marriage, namely, caste endogamy and clan exogamy, and anuloma (hypergamy) and pratiloma (hypogamy), have been misinterpreted and misused for maintaining the dowry system. These rules restrict the choice of mate selection, as marriage takes place within one’s caste and outside one’s clan.


Further, a girl needs to be married to a boy who belongs to a family with a status higher than that of her family. This practice of marriage alliance is known as hypergamy or anuloma. When a girl is married to a boy whose family status is lower than that of the girl’s, it is known as hypogamy or pratiloma. Thus, anuloma has restricted choice and created a desire to give away a girl through marriage to a superior family.

A boy becomes a more valued object than a girl. The net result, therefore, is dowry: the giving of material goods and cash to the parents of the boy at the time of fixing the marriage, at the performance of marriage and even afterwards on several other occasions. This practice has become a serious social problem.

Magnitude of the Problem:

In India, and particularly in Delhi and other metropolis, dowry murders and suicides have become a matter of great concern. In Delhi alone, a bride was burnt to death every twelve hours. A total of 162 cases of burning of women were reported in Delhi between 1 April and 30 June 1983. This was an all-time high number of such incidents, and dowry was the most prominent cause of such a phenomenon.

The problem of dowry is experienced by all sections of Indian society, but it has become a chronic evil particularly among the educated middle classes engaged in salaried jobs and trade and commerce. Women’s organisations, voluntary associa­tions, the intelligentsia and the media have expressed their serious concern for finding legal and reformative remedies to curb the menace of this social evil. Incidences of the dowry-related atrocities and crimes have receded recently as a result of the social awakening created by various groups and organisations.


Dowry is not a ‘gift’, a ‘return gift’, an ‘exchange’ or a ‘recip­rocal gesture’. It is considered more as an expenditure on the marriage of a girl, which parents are required to incur by force. Parents of a boy of marriageable age, who possesses the qualifica­tions that the parents of a girl are looking for, demand a dowry according to what they think is the ‘value’ of their son. There are no references to dowry (as we know it today) in the Sanskritic texts.

However, there are references to bride-price in the context of the traditional forms of marriage. There are certainly references to ornaments given to the bride. The Smritis also do not mention dowry. Dowry is a phenomenon which emerged in the medieval period. The Rajput princes, thikanedars and jagirdars gave away gifts to their daughters at the time of marriage with a view to exhibit their prosperity and superior status. In course of time the practice filtered down from the rich Rajputs and other twice-born castes to other sections.

Social Dimensions of Dowry:

English education and white-collar jobs have accentuated the problem of dowry. A boy with good education and employment becomes much sought after match for a girl. If anything has kept some pace with wider social and economic changes in India, it is the increase in dowry in terms of cash and material goods. Whatever new products come to the market, such as motorcycle, car, music system, DVD player, television, refrigerator, household goods, electrical appliances, clothes, ornaments, furniture, etc., have become a part of dowry.

If parents of moderate economic standing cannot meet dowry demands, their daughter remains unmarried; or if they manage to give a dowry, they get into heavy debt. Demands for more dowries after marriage have become a source of conflict between families of the boy and that of the girl. When the demands are not met, brides are harassed, tortured, burnt, or they commit suicide.