Why and how dowry system started?

Just the mention of the word 'dowry' raises many eyebrows in India, it's a very common practice. Everyone knows that it exists and is practiced widely but still no one wants to talk about it and want to pretend that it doesn't happen in their family. Many movies, and documentaries have been made, and many articles have been written about this issue, all this was to educate people and stop this practice. This is one of the reasons a female child is considered a burden on the family, and it's also responsible for female foeticide in India. Torture of brides for dowry is one of the very common reasons for domestic violence in India. Many times this torture ends with the death of the victim either by suicide as she cannot tolerate the torture inflicted on her or murder where greedy people involved in crime (most often in-laws and husband of the victim) kill her so that they can trap another victim to satisfy their greed for money. The problem of dowry-related torture and deaths is still serious and there is work going on at various levels to educate people about this issue. So, my question is if this system is so evil then how come it's still going on? Why educated or uneducated, rich or poor people are indulging in this practice? How did this whole system of giving and taking dowry start? Is it another case of something that started with noble intentions but people exploited it for their selfish purpose?

This whole issue if we trace its roots again leads us to the patriarchy and men's desire to control women. From ancient times kingdoms and properties were inherited only by the male child while daughters used to be married in another family of equal or higher status so automatically moved away from their own family. Even in scriptures and all ancient stories there are mostly examples of the male child as heir to the family, inheritance of ancestral estate used to exclusively go to male offspring. After marriage females leave their own families and live with their in-laws, this event automatically terminates their rights to claim any share in their father's property unless there is no other male in the family who can claim the inheritance. So in this social structure, females were totally deprived of any share in their father's property or income, and they were totally dependent on their husbands after marriage. I think to solve this problem system of dowry might have started. Dowry must have been nothing but a one-time payment of a lump sum amount from a father to his daughter approximately equal to her share in their ancestral property. As the daughter doesn't claim their share in the father's property after her marriage, this arrangement was very convenient to provide her some support and relief (a way out to nullify the injustice done to them). But like many other traditions and customs, this custom was not at all a remedy for this gross injustice done towards daughters. Instead of giving them their due share in ancestral property, this shoddy arrangement was made which had many loopholes and didn't help to solve the problem but rather became a big problem itself.

There is a law in India that entitles women to have an equal share of their ancestral property. A recent amendment was done very recently in 2005 to remove gender discrimination. Even now, either because of total unawareness or social and family pressure, most women don't claim (or are hesitant to claim) their share of ancestral property. If they show courage to claim their share then their demand is not entertained, family members and other people call them greedy, and selfish and force them to withdraw their demand. But if the same treatment is given to a man, then it's injustice. A share in ancestral property is considered a right for men but a privilege for women. Did someone say double standards? Women need to stand against this unfair treatment, they need to oppose this dowry system and demand their equal share in ancestral property. Asking for your rights is not greed. If one woman stands for this others will get courage but if they keep quiet because of social pressure then this system will continue like this and they will be victimized to milk money as this has become a major source of income for many families. This is one of the reasons for the preference for a male child. Because even if he won't manage to do anything in his life his marriage can fetch some money for his family. The original intention of the dowry system might have been to provide the daughter her share of her father's ancestral property, this is not the case anymore. People now demand dowry like they demand ransom money. There is no limit to how much a groom's family can ask. It doesn't even depend on the financial situation of the girl's family. We need to break this mindset and women need to liberate themselves to have equal status in family as well as in marriage. Let's stop this practice which has plagued Indian society for so long and give girls their true rights which they need and totally deserve.

Thanks for reading and please share your views.

References:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_Succession_Act,_1956

(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)