How the British created the Dowry System in Punjab

[Guest guest]

Namaskar Mitra,

 

'Dowry Murder: Imperial Origins of a Cultural Crime' by Veena Talwar. Have

uploaded excerpts from the book, my own analysis and renamed article as 'How

the British created the Dowry System in Punjab' since the book refers to

undivided Punjab ie modern day Indian states Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh

& Pakistan's Punjab. To read summary see Veenaji's interview below as appeared

in Times of India on 31.1.03.

http://esamskriti.com/html/new_inside.asp?cat_name=why&cid=1030&sid=168

 

The dowry system is a result of the socio economic changes brought about the

British in Punjab. They promoted masculinization of society by making men

owners of agricultural land and responsible for payment of land revenue. They

codified customary laws by excluding women totally. This lowered the status of

women significantly. The British blamed caste, dowry etc for female infanticide

so that they could justify their annexation of Punjab. They sought to make dowry

& high marriage expenses the reason for peasant indebtedness when actually it

was on account of high land revenue payable on fixed dates & in cash.

 

The article also gives you the pre-colonial system of land ownership and dowry,

why did Punjabis want to have more sons, how & why the British created this

myth that Punjabis are the only martial race in India - Muslim / Jat vs Khatri

rivalry (includes Dr B R Ambedkar's views on the subject), why did the British

allow only Jats & Muslims to own land in undivided Punjab ie the Land

Alienation Act 1900, why Khatris/Arora etc castes made their first son a Sikh.

 

Interview Q. “You blame the British for the accentuation of the dowry problem.

A. Prior to the arrival of the British in India, land was not seen as a

commodity which could be bought and sold. Notionally, the land belonged to the

king and no one could be evicted from it. Kings showed concern for the

peasantry and, when required, were prepared to live more frugally. Ranjit

Singh, for instance, waived tax collections for a year, to compensate for lack

of rains. The produce of the land was meanwhile shared by all the villagers.

Putting landed property exclusively in male hands, and holding the latter

responsible for the payment of revenue had the effect of making the Indian male

the dominant legal subject. The British further made the peasants pay revenue

twice a year on a fixed date. Inability to pay would result in the land being

auctioned off by the government. As a result, peasant were forced, during a bad

year, to use their land as collateral to borrow from the moneylender, in order

to pay taxes. Chronic indebtedness, instance, became the fate of a large number

of peasants who possessed smallholding in Punjab. The British resolve to

rationalize and modernize the revenue was particularly hard on women. From

being co-partners in pre-colonial landholding arrangement, they found

themselves denied all access to economic resources, turning them into

dependents. In the event they faced marital problems, they were left with no

legal entitlements whatsoever.

Q. Basically what you are saying is that the entire economy became ‘masculine’.

A. Precisely. This was one of the key factors that made male children more

desirable. Also, the increasing recruitment of Punjabi peasants into the army

saw more and more families practice selective female infanticide. The newly

enhanced worth of sons saw families demand cash, jewellery or expensive

consumer durables at the time of marriage. The situation has steadily worsened

since then but rather than calling it ‘dowry problem’, we should call it the

problem of paying,’ groom price’.

The pre-colonial logic for female infanticide was unwittingly strengthened by

imperial and land-ownership policies even though the British outlawed the

practice in 1870. The British charged heavy fines and apprehended and

imprisoned culprits perpetuating such a crime. They did not however think it

worth their while to examine the social effects of their own methods of

governance that led to an intensification of these problems.

Q. Are you trying to say there was no practice of dowry before the British arrived in India?

A. No, I am not saying that, Dowry, or dahej as it is called in Hindi, has today

become a convenient peg on which to hang all explanations about discrimination

against women. But in its origins dowry was one of the few indigenous,

women-centered institutions in an overwhelmingly patriarchal and agrarian

society. Historically, it was an index of the ‘appreciation’ bestowed upon a

daughter in her natal village, and not a groom’s prerogative to make demands on

the girl’s family. The dowry-infanticide blight was used to justify the

annexation of India. Colonialism, it was claimed was a civilizing mission.

Q. How did the codification of customary law affect women?

A. The problem of women worsened following the British decision to codify all

customary law. A key word like ‘local’ which meant village in customary law,

came to be transformed to mean ‘caste’ or ‘tribe.’ This shift in terminology

had implications for women, since they were now seen to belong to patriarchal

lineage rather than localities. The whole attempt was to translate social and

customary practice, which was flexible, into legal codes from which women were

excluded.

Even more significant was the act that colonial administration replaced the

indigenous version of democracy in which villagers had representatives with

mechanisms of direct control. The British courts replaced the authority of the

village panchayat with the patwari-the man who kept village records-by making

him a paid employee of the state. This conferred enormous powers on someone who

was earlier seen as a servant of the farmers.

Q. Why has modern, independent India failed to get rid of the problem of dowry?

A. We haven’t realised that making a dowry demand is a cultural oxymoron that

bears no resemblance to the historical meaning and practice of this

institution. Dowry demand must be tread on a par with crimes such as blackmail,

extortion or insurance fraud. Instead, they are put in the straitjacket of a

dowry case. No wonder the law takes no note of the pain and psychological

trauma that a woman suffers in a failed marriage. In other words, we will not

be in a position to address the problem of dowry unless the state begins to

take a wholly different view of it”.

Share the Wealth, cheers & om

sanjeev

 

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