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To Bed.....permanently.
- Mr. Vachaspati Velavartipati

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The Brahmanical-order Hindu caste system has degenerated to such an extent that it has brought about extreme misery and distress not only to the 'untouchables', but also to artificially formed 'inferior' groups belonging to the same social stratum or caste. In case of an arranged marriage (and barring a few urban areas, most marriages are arranged where the bride is chosen by the family, relatives, and middleman of the groom), grooms are traditionally from the 'superior' and the brides are from the 'inferior' factions of the same caste. So, the religious twist is this: by coming up with the dowry, the bride's family is elevating itself to the upper ladder in the caste hierarchy. This is but one excuse behind extorting the dowry. There are many other reasons, and all are equally vague and deceptive. The bottom line is greed and oppression in an increasingly materialist and historically male-chauvinist society. Most dowry deaths have occurred in the upper strata of Hindu communities, i.e., the Brahmans (the caste of priests cum the Kings' policy-makers), Kshatriyas (the caste of worriers now-turned politicians), and Vaishyas (the traders now-transformed sponsors of conservative parties). Most killing of women for non-payment of 'promised' dowry have so far occurred in the urban affluent upper-caste Hindu communities. As Table I will show, in spite of its rapid escalation and migration into traditionally incidence-free areas and non-Hindu communities of India as well as Bangladesh and Pakistan (in Pakistan, the death of newly married women due to 'stove bursting' has often been featured in the news media in recent years), the phenomenon of dowry death is by and large concentrated in the communities and areas mentioned above. In places where traditionally there is an absence of caste- or dowry-based marriage system (such as the tribal communities of the far-east Indian states or predominantly caste-free Muslim, Christian, or Buddhist majority areas), dowry deaths are still not rampant. This evidence reasserts that the problems of dowry death, bride burning, and other forms of dowry-related violence on women is a Hindu phenomenon that is now almost out-of-control due to the following reasons: (1) retention of the caste system, (2) undermining of the woman by the religious orthodox and social patriarch making herself and her family vulnerable to socioeconomic pressure and extortion, (3) ever-increasing greed of the bridegroom and his family, (4) an economically strangled hyper populated society non-supportive of unmarried women, and (5) a morally depraved political system run by the pro-status quo conservatives. Hence, be ready for social extinction.

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