Kritika (C20-079)

Dowry System Practice Among Indian Tribal

Communities

INTRODUCTION

“​Any young man, who makes dowry the condition to marriage, discredits his
education and his country and dishonours womanhood.​”

-Mahatma Gandhi

Marriage is an integral part of Indian society, a source of joy as well as of new

beginnings. Yet, one of the most standing evils associated with marriage in the
Indian society is the Dowry system. It has been practised since ages and has been
visible across multiple regions of the country and across many sections of the
society. Be it the rich or poor, the system spares none. Despite a lot being said and
done against the practice, it is still prevalent in the current century. This report aims
to analyze the influence,practise and culture of the dowry system across the various
tribal sections of the society who are largely cut off from the main section of the
society. The report presents the introduction of the dowry system in India, it’s origin,
causes and solutions. This also presents the statistics of tribal communities residing
in India, their culture and lifestyles. It shares views and practices regarding the dowry
system among tribal communities.

DOWRY SYSTEM IN INDIA

The dowry system in India refers to the practise where the bride's family gives gifts,
goods, cash, property, vehicles, and jewelries to the bridegroom or his parents and
relatives as a condition of the marriage. It is the payment in cash or gifts to the
bridegroom's family which includes cash, jewellery, furniture, electrical appliances,
bedding, crockery and utensils, vehicles and other household items which generally
help the newlyweds set up their home.
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The dowry practice puts heavy financial burden on the bride's family. In some cases
to get more dowry, it also leads to crime against women such as emotional abuse,
physical injury or even deaths.

HISTORY OF DOWRY SYSTEM

The Dowry system started even before the British period. In those days, society
didn’t use to consider dowry as a “ Mandatory Fee” to be paid by the bride's parents.
The idea behind the dowry system was to make sure the bride will be financially
stable after getting married. Brides parents used to give money, land, assets to the
bride as a “Gift” to make sure their daughter will be happy and independent after
marriage.

But when British rule came, they didn’t want women to own any property. Women
were not allowed to buy any property, land or assets. Hence, men started owning all
the “Gifts” given to the bride by her parents.This rule changed the pure dowry system
into an evil practise. Now brides were being looked at as a source of income.
Although the origin of the custom lies with parents trying to assure financial stability
for their daughters, today it has translated into parents paying up for the fundamental
condition for marriage of their daughters. The jewelry and cash brought by the bride
from her parents’ house is referred to as “Stridhan” and in theory is the property of
the girl, but in reality it is often treated as their rightful due by the groom’s family.

CAUSES, EFFECTS AND SOLUTIONS TO DOWRY SYSTEM

Causes ​:- Following are the causes of Dowry system:-

● Greed
● Society Structure and social constraints
● Illiteracy
● Social Status of Women
● Adhering to Customs
● Social status and show off

Effects​ :- Following are the effects of the dowry system:-

● Injustice towards girls
● Crimes against women such as physical/domestic violence, fraud,cruelty,
abetment to suicide and murder
● Financial burden
● Gender inequality
● Gender imbalance
● Inferior social status of women

Solutions​ :- The following solutions can be helpful to end this practice and culture:-
Kritika (C20-079)

● Strict enforcement of law

● Education
● Social Awareness
● Encouraging girls do better in their career

INDIAN TRIBAL COMMUNITIES

A tribe is a division in a traditional society which consists of different families related
by many factors such as social, religious, economic, or blood ties. They do have a
common lifestyle, culture and dialect. It possesses certain qualities and
characteristics which make it a unique cultural, social, and political entity. They are
also called as ‘Adivasis’ in India. According to the Constitution of India, there are 645
distinct tribes in India. Tribes in India constitute around per cent of India’s total
population. They include both ‘major tribes’ and their ‘sub-tribes’. Currently they
inhabit all parts of the country except the States of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi,
Chandigarh and Puducherry.
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Their number and other demographic features vary from one part of the country to
another. The census of 2011 mentions that Bhil is the largest tribe in India having a
population of over 40 lacs. Tribal societies and their people form an integral part of
our society.

​Banga Tribal Community women (Source- Wikipedia)

FEATURES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF INDIAN TRIBES

Tribes are relatively isolated and separated from larger cultural influences. They
have a rela​tive cultural homogeneity and a simple technology. They believe in magic,
spirits and witchcraft. They believe in animism, which means that all objects both
animate and inanimate get inhabited by spirits or souls. Their societies are very
different from those existing in big cities. They did not follow the social rules and
rituals suggested by the Brahmanas because they divided societies into numerous
unequal classes. There is a unique bond of kinship among the tribe members. Some
other characteristics are as follows:-
● Common name​ :- Distinct name of its own to distinguish from others.
● Common territory​ :- They generally occupy common geographical ar​eas.
● Common language​ :- Each tribe has its own dialect.
● Common culture :- Each tribe has their own patterns of behaviour and
festivals and deities to worship.
● Endogamy :- Each tribe follows the practice of marrying members within their
own tribe.
● Political organisation :- All tribes have their own political organisation and
have councils of elders.
● Financial Conditions :- 57 per cent of the tribals are economically active as
against the national average of 43 per cent.
● Sense of Unity : - This is an invariable necessity for a true tribal life. The very
existence of a tribe depends upon their sense of unity during difficult times.
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● Importance of Kinship :- Most tribes are divided into exogamous clans and
lineages. Marriage among them is based on endogamy. It is viewed as a
contract and there is no prohibition on divorce and remarriage.
● Egalitarian Values :- The tribal society is based on the egalitarian principle.
They don’t have the caste or sex based inequalities. So, both men and
women have equal status and freedom.
● Rudimentary type of Religion :- They believe in certain myths and a
rudimentary type of religion.
● Work :- 91% tribal workers are engaged in agriculture as against 73%
national average. About 3% tribals are engaged in manufacturing as against
11% of general population and 5% in servicing sectors as against 16%
average of general population. About 1% tribals are engaged in forestry and
food gathering.
● Prevalence of Dormitories :- They have common sleeping chambers or
dormitories. Such organisations train the youth in the tribal ways of life. These
are the centres which preserve tribal legends,music, dance, paintings, etc.
● Need for Protection :- The tribals always experience the need for protection.
Hence, they are a cohesive group. It is a homogeneous group also. There is
less diversity and more unity and uniformity.
Some other features of the tribals are that most of them live in isolated terrains and
the main sources of their livelihood are agriculture and gathering of forest produce.
They do not cultivate for profit. They spend a greater part of their earnings on social
and religious ceremonies. A large number of them are illiterate and are vic​timised by
forest contractors and moneylenders.

DOWRY CULTURE AMONG INDIAN TRIBES

As described in the earlier section, tribal communities do not differentiate based
upon gender and have gender equality. The women of tribal communities also do
contribute in family, household and economic activities. So, in most of the cases,
there isn’t much dowry practice in the usual manner as compared to the civilised
sections of the society. But there are certain other practices which are similar to
dowry but applicable on grooms which is also called as “bride price” or “reverse
dowry” in popular terms. They believe that it is a ritual which ensures the protection
of girls within the community. Few of these instances have been well described
below:-
● Gujarat Tribal Community​:- In Gujarat state, Tribal communities like Baria,
Khant, Pagi, Damor and Bhabhor accept “bride price” in the form of 'bhangjad'
or 'davoo', ranging from Rs 2,000 to Rs 1 lakh. These communities belong to
the lowest strata in the social hierarchy and may be among the poorest, but
they have one of the healthiest sex ratios in the state — around 940 women
for every 1,000 men. They believe that this practice ensures that women are
not considered a burden and it creates a protective shield around girls. Tribal
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men have to pay a good amount during marriage to the bride's family. While
'bhangjad' is the bride price which a girl's family gets during marriage, 'davoo'
is a compensation that either of the family gets in case of separation between
couples.
● Jharkhand Tribal Community :- Bhumij community in Jharkhand follows a
very unique tradition in marriage. There is no dowry system in the tribal
community but there is a tradition where the groom’s family has to give two
oxen to the bride’s brother. There has never been a case in this community,
where a tribal woman was forced to give dowry or faced dire consequences
because of the failure to do so. The bride’s family does not have to give
anything, in fact, they are the receivers. If there are no oxen due to
unavailability, the groom has to give the price of the two oxen to his
brother-in-law. This unique practice has a hidden message behind this. They
believe that with this tradition, the bride's brother must use the oxen for
farming and grow rice and practice agriculture, so that when his sister comes
back to visit her family to her parents home, her brother could host them
properly, and would be able to give a feast to his sister and his brother-in-law.
The widow is allowed to remarry also in this community.
● Rabaris Tribal Community :- Rabaris are generally nomadic and can be
found in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and
Karnataka where they roam in search of green pastures. Their wealth lies in
livestock, mainly cattle. They believe that they are not vulgar as urbanites.
They do not have any dowry deaths, broken engagements or marriages and
divorces. The groom's father gives the bride's father a nominal sum of Rs 5 at
the time of the engagement and an additional Rs 1,150 at the time of the
wedding to bear the expenses of the ceremony. Dowry is given only by those
who can afford it but the total sum never exceeds Rs 5,000.
● Baigas Tribal Community :- This community of central India has never heard
of dowry norm. Here, things are done differently. There is no settlement or
dowry. Instead, the groom’s family visits the bride’s family with two bottles of
alcohol as a sign of establishing a relationship between the two families. The
wedding ceremony is also unique. It entails ritual baths, traditional dance and
music, along with a ring ceremony where the groom runs to put a ring on the
bride’s finger through a cheering gathering of guests.
● Badaga communities :- This community lives mainly in the Nilgiris District in
Tamil Nadu, India. They also form the single largest community of the Nilgiris.
Though classified backward, they follow many progressive thoughts such as
absence of a dowry system, mutual consent divorce and widow remarriage.
● Garasia community :- This community of Rajasthan has a low incidence of
rape and dowry deaths due to some arrangement called dapa. They live with
the girl and marry their live-in partners only when they have sufficient money.
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● Madhya Pradesh Tribal Community :- Here, marriages have become a

bane for many grooms and their families as it has become very expensive due
to reverse dowry. The amount used to be small earlier and no one used to
bother. But over the years the amount has now increased due to the influence
of non-tribal and tendency to show-off. The reverse dowry has increased to
Rs 3.5 lakhs where liquor served itself costs around Rs 1 lakh. This is apart
from the other marriage expenses which range between Rs 50,000 to Rs 1
lakh. Most families do not have money and are forced to sell their land, do
migration to other places to earn. They also borrow money from money
lenders at very high interest rates and fall into a debt trap.
● Yanadis tribal community :- This community from Krishna district is keeping
alive an age-old tradition where the groom has to pay the reverse dowry. They
refer to this custom as “Gamaalam”. The Gamaalam is paid once the alliance
gets accepted by both the families. It is directly paid to the parents of the
prospective bride.
● Bedias Community :- These communities follow the tradition of both dowry
and reverse dowry based upon different conditions and varied circumstances.
● NorthEast tribal communities :- The entire Northeast part of India is almost
free of dowry. Here, women are treated equally and are given equal status
and respect. Here, females are independent and have equal opportunities.
They are not considered inferior to males. The brides are showered with gifts
from the family of the groom and her family is treated with immense respect
and honour. There is hardly any concept of dowry system or practise in states
like Mizoram, Nagaland, and Meghalaya,.

CONCLUSION
The practice of the dowry system in India depends upon multiple factors including
the geographical area, residence, inheritance system, social system, education,
women's role in production or economy, kinship, relative availability of potential
spouses, and social stratification in society. We examined how the dowry system
turned from a sweet gesture into an evil practice in India. We also looked upon
various causes, effects and solutions to the dowry system in general. Indian tribal
community also forms a significant proportion of the population of India. These
communities are strengthened with unity and common custom and culture.

Commonly referred to as “Adivasi Communities”, these communities have often

been credited with being more progressive for women, in terms of sexuality, mobility,
inheritance and division of labour. They also follow many progressive practices.A
look at the 2016 National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data shows that states with
high Adivasi populations have the lowest dowry deaths occurrences, especially
North-East states, which has often been touted as a dowry-free zone. These tribal
societies are matriarchal, and follow gender equality. Women of the tribe are treated
Kritika (C20-079)

equally and are given equal status and respect. Females are independent and have
equal opportunities and choices. They are not considered inferior to males. But many
tribal communities follow the custom of “reverse dowry” or “bride price” which also
needs to be completely eradicated from their society to bring the idea of gender
equality in true sense.

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