The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c7.s4.22

c7.s4.22

The dowry system is connected with the conception of marriage as a *dāna* or gift. A religious gift in kind is usually accompanied by a gift in cash or gold. So the gift of the bride also was accompanied by a formal and small gift in cash or ornaments. The amount of this gift was a nominal one for a long time, and did not create any impediment in the settlement of marriage. It is only in medieval times and in Rajputana that we find the dowry system assuming alarming proportions. This, however, happened only in the case of royal and aristocratic families. The extraordinary pride, which the Rajputs took in their ancestry, was mainly responsible for this development. A Rajput youth of the bluest blood would be desired as a son-in-law by a large number of people, and so his price in the marriage market would sore high. The dowry system had become a positive evil of great magnitude in Rajputana from about the 13th or 14th century A. D.