Last Updated on 23 May 2024 IST: Dowry Free India by Saint Rampal Ji Maharaj: The dowry is a terrible and unscrupulous practice that has grown into a torment of society. The dowry system devastates the blessed event of the wedding. It switches to merely a commercial arrangement. The situation of women is very wretched. Unless this system is eliminated, there is no scope of growth into Indian society. The government has enforced the Dowry Prohibition Act since 1961 but has had no encouraging impact on society.
Some Questions on Dowry
The greed for name, fame and money has made people blind in terms of keeping humanity while practicing marriage affairs. The questions like: Is Dowry good or bad? What are the effects of dowry? What is the purpose of a dowry? Why is dowry illegal? Why do Indian brides pay dowry? What are the causes of dowry? What about a dowry death case study? What is the prevention of the dowry system? What is the solution for the dowry system? ―are required to be asked again and again from the people of society so as to make them raise this curse as a social issue by the power of media and journalism (as this is the fourth pillar of democracy). Let us highlight these topics and the solution of the problem.
Dowry free Marriages under the guidance of Sant Rampal Ji Maharaj on the occasion of 626th God Kabir Prakat Diwas.#SantRampalJiMaharaj#दहेज_मुक्त_विवाह
— Satlok Ashram (@SatlokAshram) June 7, 2023
Marriage In 17 Minutes pic.twitter.com/MzEdJvBmnF
Dowry System in India: Highlights
- Before eliminating curses like dowry we need to understand a few concepts like: What is the purpose of dowry? What are the causes of dowry? What are the effects of dowry?
- As dowry is a curse to most of the families and after understanding the concept of dowry, we should also be aware of the prevention of the dowry system so as to deroot this curse from society.
- Going further along with preaching about prevention of the dowry system and to attain a dowry free marriage society, a solution of the dowry system is also necessary in order to prevent it. Because in the absence of it, we cannot eliminate dowry from our society.
- Laws have been enacted by the government since 1961 but their implementation hasn’t been done. We require a strict implementation along with utmost discipline in following a dowry free culture to attain a dowry free marriage society.
- One such culture is being led and taken forward with a cent percent success rate and has been preparing a dowry-free marriage society by Saint Rampal Ji Maharaj (from Haryana).
- Anti Dowry movement with the initiative of Ramaini has saved the lives of many women and has given the sigh of relief to many families across the globe.
Why Do Indian Brides Pay Dowry?
The impact of dowry is known to everyone and still people practice it. Why? It is because of the fact that the growing greed for money and the show-off of the dowry taken/given has turned this curse into a ritual of an Indian marriage. People have believed that without dowry marriages cannot take place.
What Are the Causes of Dowry System?
Dowry is a term that is purely understandable to everyone as it is related to the exchange of money and people know it very well. The main cause of increase in the exchange of dowry is the greed of accepting money or expensive commodities as freebies. With people running after money like never before, no one wants to lose this opportunity to have a handsome amount of wealth for free.
What Are the Effects of Dowry System in India?
As the cause of the dowry is known to everyone, the effects are also not hidden to anyone. It is the family of the girl who has to bear the effects of dowry. Firstly arranging dowry or we can say that fulfilling the said demands of the groom’s family is not an easy task for every bride’s father. If the dowry is given according to the demands then there will be continuous such demands in the future and if the dowry is not given as per demands, the girl is tortured after the marriage for bringing less dowry which in turn tortures her parents and generates mental pressure on the mind of girl and her family.
All these have resulted in an increase in the number of dowry deaths. Presently dowry death case study reveals that 20 women die per day because of dowry, that’s why this problem is a curse to the Indian society.
What Is the Prevention of the Dowry System?
Under the name of Dowry, people are playing with the emotions and trust of people in a marriage affair, especially those on the girl’s side. Although the Government has enacted the Dowry Prohibition Act 1961 still the situation is getting worse day by day since the day of its establishment. There is no implementation of the law. To prevent exchange of Dowry, all we need is the strict implementation on termination of its exchange with utmost discipline. If not, then cases will continue to rise like this and ill effects will continue to rise.
Reasons For Dowry System in India
- In ancient times, the entire property of the father belonged to his sons, in which the daughters could not have the right, so the father used to give some part of the property as a gift to his daughter on the occasion of her marriage and this practice was considered a virtue at that time. Work was considered. But due to many changes in the society, changing the form of the act of this virtue, it became a curse for the society and innumerable evils of the dowry system have arisen.
- Marrying a girl in her own caste,or subcaste limits the scope of her marriage, so the groom’s side made the dowry system mandatory for the girl’s marriage. Apart from this, child marriage is also a reason for dowry system because the parents choose the bride and groom themselves, from which they fix arbitrary amount by demanding dowry to earn profit. In Hindus, marriage of girls is considered essential and taking advantage of this situation, more and more dowry is demanded by the groom and the burden of which remains on the family of the girl’s side for life. Apart from this, it is mandatory to give more dowry to the girl side even to marry the boys of the higher family, so the compulsion of marriage is also the reason for the dowry system.
- Lack of education and social prestige is also the reason for the dowry system because due to social prestige people want to marry their daughter with a good boy and due to the lack of these boys in society more dowry is taken by capable boys.
- Inflation is also the main reason for the dowry system, presently a person needs a lot of money to meet all kinds of needs and they consider marriage as a good opportunity to get money and more money from the girl side. By demanding, they become successful in fulfilling their needs.
- Some people believe that by giving more dowry to the daughter, they will get respect from society, due to which they show their false reputation by giving more dowry to their daughters. Apart from this, those people who have given more dowry in the marriage of their daughter, they try to get that money back through the marriage of their sons and for these reasons the dowry system is encouraged in our society.
What Is the Solution to the Dowry System?
Dowry Free India: The solution of the Dowry system seems to be out of the reach of every government and organizations or religious sects except the renowned Saint Rampal Ji Maharaj from Haryana. Saint Rampal Ji has demonstrated a spectacular dowry free marriage initiative called Ramaini that doesn’t accept any exchange of dowry. The success story of this anti dowry movement is based on the discipline maintained by the disciples of Saint Rampal Ji Maharaj in His leadership in prohibiting the exchange of Dowry. This is unique in itself. This kind of anti dowry movement can be fruitful in abolishing such a curse from society that has taken the lives of many innocent women.
Dowry Quotes
- Either Dowry in Hinduism or Dowry in Islam or Dowry in Christianity or Dowry in Sikhism, Dowry is curse for the society and for upcoming generations.
- It is a misconception that marriage will work only with a good dowry. Dowry is just a man-made criteria of judging a girl’s family which is completely wrong in itself.
- Dowry is similar to the pack of cigarettes, it is killing people and still people are practicing it.
- Dowry, settled into the roots of Indian society, can be eliminated by awareness about true spiritual knowledge given by a Complete Saint.
- Dowry Free marriages by Saint Rampal Ji Maharaj has demonstrated that honesty still exists in people, the only need is to understand the difference between right and wrong by understanding His True Spiritual Knowledge.
Marriages Completed without Dowry From Guruvani in 17 Minutes
On one hand, while the whole world is increasing the misery of themselves and their daughters by taking or giving dowry, Sant Rampal Ji Maharaj’s disciples are giving their support to eradicate the dowry system by marrying through Ramani. Every day hundreds of people get married by Ramani in all the ashrams of Sant Rampal Ji Maharaj across the world, but keeping the limit in mind, the names of few devotees have been written here:
- Deepak Das son of Bhajan Das From Jammu and Kashmir got married with Kajal Dasi daughter of Subhash Das from Kathua Jammu and Kashmir
- Govind Das Son of Adhika Lal Das From Bhagalpur, Bihar got married with Komal Dasi daughter of Mahesh Chowdhary from Kahalgaon (Kazipura), Bhagalpur, Bihar
- Basant Das son of Halkeram Raikwar From Harda Madhya Pradesh got married with Vandana Dasi daughter of Santosh Nagvanshi from Jabalpur Madhya Pradesh
Anti Dowry Movement (Dowry Free India): What Is Rameni?
Jagatguru Sant Rampal Ji Maharaj preaches in His sermons to adopt the noble virtues like Eternal Knowledge, Conscience, Contentment, Love, Endurance, Kindness, Forgiveness, Modesty, Renunciation, Disinterest, Peace, Religion, Devotion, Equanimity. The great saint has taken effective steps against social evils. He has devised an innovative method of the dowry free marriage ceremony, popularly known as Ramaini, that happens in seventeen minutes without any exchange of money and commodities as dowry. There is no pomp and show, and this way His devotees not only save money but also valuable time.
Ramaini (Dowry Free Marriages) in Haryana
Dowry Free India: Following Sant Rampal’s spiritual guidance, society has now come forward to eliminate the demon of dowry. In just 17 minutes, one such pageant-free wedding was organized by Rohtak resident the groom Vikas who has completed M. Tech. and the bride Pinky who has done M. Com. at Jhajjar district of Haryana.
The special feature of the ceremony was its simplicity, with no decoration and dowry. The attire of the groom and the bride were quite simple. The pair explained that they were devotees of revolutionary Saint Rampal Ji and they followed the learnings from their Satguru to eradicate the evil dowry system and therefore they performed an exceptionally simple ceremony.
Ramaini in Rajasthan
Similarly, two more Dowry Free Marriage (Ramaini) ceremonies were performed in district Barmer. The father of the two brides was very thankful to Saint Rampal Ji because of Him, he could perform his daughters’ weddings without the burden of dowry.
There are thousands of examples in various parts of India where such dowry free weddings saved girls from the curse of dowry. Every year on the occasion of Kabir Prakat Diwas by Jagatguru Rampal Ji Maharaj performs a hundred weddings in the Mega Bhandara. Saint Rampal Ji Maharaj is the only saint on the planet earth who bestows True Devotion to all devotees irrespective of caste, religion, and economic status at free of cost. The devotees who follow vigorously enjoy all worldly pleasures as well as achieve salvation with His blessings.
FAQ about Dowry Free India and Marriages
Campaigns like ‘Beti Bachao Abhiyan’ are being run by the Government of India. At the same time, Sant Rampal Ji has also started the Dowry Free India campaign, due to which common people have also become aware. Sewakheda village in Unnao district and two Northeastern states, Sikkim and Mizoram are almost dowry free States In India.
After the hard work of many social reformers the government has come up with many laws (The Dowry Prohibition Act 1961) but their implementation hasn’t been done completely. Now Sant Rampal ji Maharaj has Strictly Prohibited Dowry in any form with the Ramaini Marriage.
The payment of dowry has long been prohibited under specific Indian laws including the Dowry Prohibition Act 1961 approved by the Parliament of India and subsequently by Sections 304B and 498A of the Indian Penal Code. Yet there is no implementation of these laws.
Because of the high demand for dowry women are viewed as a financial burden on a family, and many parents abort girls or allow them to die after birth. This leads to both the chronic undervaluing of women and a huge gender disparity.
No! DOWRY is not at all necessary for a Marriage. The Honourable supreme court of India has categorically stated that:- The Girl child has the same Rights in her parental property as that of her brother. Dowry is legally and morally wrong, but this is part of a tradition and social custom which had started to give some properties to daughters, and now people using it in the wrong manner.
The Dowry system can put a financial burden on the bride’s family and can lead to violence against women & female foeticide.
Greed in people & showing off to show wealth to elite-class people are the reason for dowry which have created problems for middle-class and poor families.
The Dowry system started in ancient Babylonia. It was a way for the bride’s family to provide for her but it’s now a harmful practice in many parts of the world.
Dowry, is a wrong practice & stigma to society which has created lots of problems for girl child as well as for their families. It puts a price on a woman’s worth.
There is no Indian state that has a complete absence of the dowry system. The states with the lowest rates of dowry-related violence and deaths are all located in the northeastern region of India. These states include: Mizoram, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh.
You can get married without a dowry by mutual understanding and by listening the satsang of Sant Rampal Ji Maharaj. Today all His devotees are organising dowry free marriages.