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Path: utzoo!watmath!watnot!watdaisy!mvramakrishn
From: mvramakrishn@watdaisy.UUCP (Rama)
Newsgroups: net.nlang.india
Subject: Re: Marriages and Dowry Expires: Refere
Message-ID: <7436@watdaisy.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 4-Oct-85 17:28:24 EDT
Article-I.D.: watdaisy.7436
Posted: Fri Oct  4 17:28:24 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 5-Oct-85 03:19:36 EDT
References: <5585@fortune.UUCP> <51700004@uiucdcsp> <3039@ut-sally.UUCP>
Reply-To: mvramakrishn@watdaisy.UUCP (Rama)
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 65
Keywords: Dowry, Root cause, Arranged marriages, Educated.
Summary: Root cause of DOWRY IS ARRANGED MARRIAGES.


	I don't think any body has addressed the root cause of the dowry
	system.  I feel arranged marriages lead to dowry in PRACTICE;
	I am not saying arranged marriage SHOULD lead to dowry.

	The last posting about this topic blamed the taker of dowry;
	the one before blamed the giver.  Both points have their merits
	depending on various factors.  To the best of my knowledge
	(From the marriages of my friends and relatives) education
	does play a role in dowry: THE EDUCATED BOY IS MORE COSTLY.
	It is also true that a RICH boy is more costly than a poorer
	one.  One also finds that a "beautiful" girl (I mean her parents)
	can buy a "better" boy for a given amount of money than a ....

	If you take a sunday paper in India and browse through the matrimonial
	column you see that the distribution of the requirements of the
	boy is some kind of exponential function.  Every girls parents
	want the boy to be "Doctor/Engineer/Bank Officer" (well not really
	some will settle for IAS/IFS officer).  This is a simple problem 
	of supply and demand. What percent of boys are "Doctors/..." ?
	Who will marry a clerk/truck driver/taxi driver/waiter etc?
	Once a boy has narrowed down the list of girls he likes to marry
	obviously he chooses to marry the one who can pay the most.

	Another factor which affects the boys decision is the 
	LAW OF CONSERVATION OF DOWRY. 
	
	THE LAW:
	   	If the number of brothers and sisters in a family
		is equal, then there is no gain or loss of money
		because of DOWRY.

	If a brother decides to be a hero among his friends and refuses
	to accept dowry, then where does he find a groom for her
	sister who does not want dowry?

	The whole system has degenerated starting from  the gifts
	given by girls parents(that is what I believe; Request to be
	corrected on history).  It could very well have been degenerated
	the other way. i.e., the boy has to pay to the girls parents to
	marry her! (There are some tribes in which this is the case)
	Probably then a beautiful/educated/singer/dancer/... etc would
	have been more costly to buy.  An Engineer/.../rich boy could
	buy a "better" girl than a clerk/.../. clerk for the same money.

	(Two of my sisters were married in the last one year.
	 One got married to a rich engineer; nominal amount of dowry
	 another was married to a bank teller/clerk; standard amount of dowry.
	 Needless to say the first one was much better looking than the second.
	 Both were graduates.)

	I don't think dowry can be eradicated until the decision as to
	who marries whom is based on insufficient data as in the CURRENT
	arranged marriages. Love marriages is *A* solution.

-------------------------------------------------------
I intended to enclose within quotes all words such as  buy, sell, market
				beautiful, better, good, bad,supply, demand etc.
Please read them so.  

UUCP:  {decvax,utzoo,ihnp4,allegra,clyde}!watmath!watdaisy!mvramakrishn
CSNET: mvramakrishn%watdaisy@waterloo.csnet
ARPA:  mvramakrishn%watdaisy%waterloo@csnet-relay.arpa
Mail:  M.V.Ramakrishna, Dept of Computer Science, University of Waterloo,
       Waterloo Ont., N2L 3G1 Canada