Santana Dharma - Dowry

In olden times a bride groom paid dowry to the bride’s family because she was considered to be the goddess of prosperity. They didn’t want to wipe out prosperity from the bride’s family and hence, would give dowry. Swami Vedanta Desikan composed the Sri Sthuthi to help a poor Brahmachari gain wealth so that he could get enough funds to pay dowry to the girl's family; the Brahmachari wanted to get married but as he was poor he couldn't pay dowry and hence was unable to get married. In the Thiruvilayadal Puranam the priest by the name of Dharmi at the temple of Somasundareswarar was also unable to get married as he was poor and couldn't pay a dowry to the girl's family. Dharmi then prays to Somasundareswarar to help him win a poetry contest so that he could use the prize money of 1000 gold coins to pay dowry to the girl's family.
The bride’s family in turn would divide the family property and pass on the bride’s share to her. As daughters were considered to be a divine gift the parents wanted to make sure that she was well taken care of. They didn’t want to leave the property division in the hands of their sons or other relatives after they have passed away since they were afraid that other relatives may rob their daughter’s  share. They also wanted to make sure that their daughter could take care of her family during emergencies. If her husband passes away or if he is unable to find suitable employment to provide for her family, then she could use her inheritance to take care of her family. She could also decide to leave her husband  if he does not treat her properly and live off of her property.  She would then be able to avoid financial crisis.In contrast from Medieval times to 19^th century, women in England and the U.S had to hand over their property to their husband after which they had no control over their property. 

In India, some parents also gave their daughter parcel of land so that she could cultivate the land and feed her family with the harvest. The property received by a girl from her mother would be passed on to her daughter and so on in a matrilineal fashion . If she had any brother(s), they were asked to take care of their sister (s) financially even after she has been married. This also gave women confidence to leave their husband if he was abusive. This tradition came to be misused in recent times but even in recent time periods, women are still revered and most families do not take undue advantage of this system. There have been many fingers pointed at Sanatana Dharma for giving rise to dowry deaths. The religion condemns the mistreatment of women and certainly does not allow murder.All the religious texts warn that great misfortune will befall on anyone who ill treated women in any way. The prosperity of the entire society depended on the happiness of the women folk.

The people who practice such gruesome acts cannot be thought to be faithful followers; they are wolves in sheep clothing. Moreover domestic violence is wide spread in all countries and is not limited to India alone; statistics tell us that one in every four women in N.America is abused by her husband or boy friend.. We also see many wife killings so that the husband can inherit her property or make a claim on her insurance policy in N.America. Hence, it is not right to blame Sanatana Dharma for dowry deaths; the so called dowry deaths are just another name for domestic violence. Men who take advantage of women exist in all countries; these men are not ethical, they have no morals, they are driven by materialistic attitudes and are sociopaths. India and Sanatana Dharma cannot be blamed to have given room for wife killings when women get murdered all over the world especially when mistreatment of women is prohibited by the laws of Sanatana Dharma.  

Femicide, the murder of women is prevalent in all countries. Statistics tell us that around 40 to 70 per cent of female murder victims are killed by husbands or boyfriends in Australia , Canada , Israel , South Africa and the United States . A study done in 1995 estimated that the Govt of Canada incurred a cost of more than 1 billion C$ every year as a result of femicide.  A 2004 study in U.K estimates the total cost incurred by the British Govt as a result of femicide at £23 billion per year.( Ref: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/vaw/launch/english/v.a.w-consequenceE-use.pdf)

The most common motive for murder throughout the world is money. It would be very unfair to blame femicide in the USA on Christianity just because Christianity is the religion of the majority in USA; similarly, it is not fair to blame dowry deaths in India on Sanatana Dharma.