Consanguineous marriages and marriage payment: a study among three South Indian caste groups

Abstract

The present study aims at understanding the interrelations between consanguineous marriages and marriage payment. The data are collected from three castes inhabiting two regions of Nellore district, Andhra Pradesh, South India. It is evident from the study that the dowry system is more prevalent among higher castes, while the bride wealth system is more common among the lower castes in the hierarchy. Further, it can be seen that the dowry system is more prevalent in developed regions, while bride-wealth is more common in backward regions. Marriage payment is found to be less common in close kin marriages than in unrelated marriages. Most of the uncle-niece marriages are without any marriage payment, in all the castes. However, most of the matrilateral cross-cousin and patrilateral cross-cousin marriages are also without any marriage payment in the Devanga.