The effect of dowry in Hindu wedding: a research based on Eastern province

Abstract

Dowry is well known as a gift for bridegroom like giving house, Land, money, golden jewels and vehicle from the house of bride who is going to get married (Rani Jethmalani & Dey, 1995). ‘Giving dowry’ is considered as a very important event in Hindu wedding. But the bride’s family is only party who are mostly affected by this dowry. So that the challenges and problems are mostly faced by bride’s side. Commonly dowry plays a vital role in different kind of society. However this study focuses on the impact of dowry in Hindu Society. The aim of this study was to discover the reason for increasing dowry system in Hindu Society and to find the vulnerable party of this dowry system. This research is an inductive as it gives a common result which is about the impact of dowry in women marriage life through the data from individual samples in research area. This is a qualitative research and also it is a quantitative research because it considers about assets details of affected women. This research is carried out based on primary data. The data collected through the questionnaire and personal interview were used for this research. In addition books and articles were used as secondary data. It is an analytical and descriptive research. 300 families in Eastern province of Sri Lanka were selected using simple random sampling method. This dowry is a status and separate property of rich people. It is being an unbrokenly beast for normal class people. So dowry appears as a big reason for violence against women. There must be many advertisements published to eradicate this stupid tradition. ‘No need to give and get dowry’ this new practice must be established speedily. It must be established wisely considering the opinions of not only women but also men who care about the society in order to make a change.