1. Introduction. In many traditional societies, the initiation of a marriage is accompanied by some transfer of goods or services. When these transfers are made from brides and their families to grooms and their families, they are broadly classified as dowries. A transfer in the opposite direction--that is, from grooms and their families to brides and their families--is generally called a bride price. The nature of marriage transactions in India has been theoretically linked to the inheritance system. For example, dowry is interpreted as the pre-mortem inheritance of the bride, passed to her at the time of her marriage. Hindu custom historically prohibited women from inheriting land, particularly when there were male heirs. This principal is a part of the Mitakshara tradition of Hindu law, which prevails throughout India except in the states of Bengal, Kerala, Assam and Northern parts of Orissa.¹ In India, social norms make it extremely rare for women to receive real (immovable) property. Dowry is subsequently viewed as a pre-mortem inheritance of a female progeny and consists only of movable property (Sharma 1984; Krishnamurthy 1981).

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