Dowry Murder: The Imperial Origins of a Cultural Crime

Can a book be scholastic AND heart-wrenching at the same time? This one is.I came across Ms. Oldenburg's work while working on a project on the interrelation of the Indian woman's safety and Economic independence, in Grad school.I love her work for the following reasons:1. She has extensive bibliography and citations to establish credibility of the statements in the book. It is easy and effortless to read historical work knowing that there is veracity and not just folk-lore in the stories told. This helps readers form a healthy relationship with the issue and gives the society tools to work on an issue in a balanced, effective way.Those who have done research work on subjects pertaining to India know just how frustrating/close to impossible it is to get cited work - esp. if you are physically not located in India. Most professional publications even, do not feel the need to cite sources. For e.g., you can search on a topic of social interest or the work of an NGO in India and a myriad of results will mushroom regurgitating the same info without any credit to the original source.2. Not only is her work inundated perfectly, she is capable of juggling objectivity, compassion and empathy in one clean shot in this book. I read a few pages on Goolge books before I bought it. And I am glad I did. It will be something I will pass on to all the children in my family, male and female.It is to blame current situations, but difficult to decipher the profound impact of several decades of slavery. A slavery of paying unreal taxes - for 100s of years - that robbed an entire nation of its prosperity.If anyone has doubts about just how damaging the British were to India, they should read this book. It tells a horrific story of indirectly perpetrated crimes with evidential support.3. The author does not draw any inferences for the user. She presents the facts, a million details that explain what shaped the Indian woman's story, leading to her present day position in modern India.25,000 a year killed - and counting.Ms. Oldenburg, you have to write more!!!_________________________________________________If you are looking for other commendable works in Indian Feminism, I also highly recommend Pramila Jaypal's Pilgrimage to India  Pilgrimage to India: A Woman Revisits Her Homeland (Adventura Series)

The tragedy of British rule in India has been unpacked by several post-colonial scholars in the last few decades. The annihilation of India’s economic & educational system wrought havoc on social fabric of India that it destroyed the moral compass and self-confidence of Indians.After having lost the United States territory in 1776, Britishers were wary of losing control over the Indian sub-continent. They were well aware of the pride and the prestige associated with control of one of the oldest civilizations in the world. India was used as a resource pool to buttress their geo-political interests in the 19th century.However, this came at a grave cost to the Indian society.That, sadly is the story, subtext and subterfuge of “Dowry Murder”.If Dharampal‘s  Beautiful Tree documents India’s native Educational system and what the Britishers did to it, Veena Talwar’s Dowry Murder informs us of the colonial destruction of the rural economy and its debilitating impact on the society.In the strategic roadmap conceived by the Britishers to establish colonial rule over India, the abolition of Sati in 1829 stands out as a quick win. It certainly succeeded in “framing the crime as a cultural product” with native participation and support. This became the modus operandi for future transgressions.The book is an exposition of how the introduction of colonial policies in Punjab, turned a respected institution such as Dowry into a fiendish practice in the 20th century. The colonial administrators blamed dowry and wedding expenses for female infanticide, linked the practice to Hindu upper caste customs to justify their civilizing mission.Veena Talwar investigates and evaluates “dowry murder” or “bride burning” and dispels the cultural origins of the crime using prodigious research and proves the fallacy of colonial reasoning about dowry.The author sets out on a marathon 15-year effort  oscillating between Delhi, Chandigarh and London to uncover the root cause.Her research leads to the following 3 key findings:#1 Ryotwari System, fixed land revenue payments & male property ownership!Introduction of the ryotwari system by the colonial administrators created a debt trap for landowners. This exposed them to the risk of losing their land to money lenders.Britishers made *** three specific changes *** from pre-colonial times:* Land revenue payments were changed to fixed cycles, from elastic. No flexibility was shown to adjust to seasonal influence.* During bad times such as famine or drought which affected harvest, there was no remission. This caused landowners to mortgage land at a high-interest rate to pay land revenues.* Modified property rights to give male members the titular ownership of land, so that “they could be taken to court or sent to jail” if they defaulted on revenue payments.Fact-finding missions and surveys in the 1890s highlighted peasant indebtedness due to inflexible colonial revenue policies. However, the Britishers turned a blind eye to the facts, instead continued to blame dowry and wedding expenses!#2 Codification, Legalization & Modification of informal customary practicesIn the process of codification and emendation, pre-colonial terminologies were given a new meaning in colonial terms. “Feudal” or “Village” became “Tribal”, the concept of “family name” and “given name” was introduced. The “family name” took on a caste identity.During the pre-colonial times:“Men tilled the soil and defended it against local and external enemies. Men defended the rights of their family and their wives; widows and unmarried daughters shared in the heaps of grain and other produce it yielded”Inheritance rights were changed too as a result of codification:“Sons would inherit and be in charge, and their widowed mothers would be their dependents-at-will; women who had no sons would have no rights and would become dependent on the charity of their stepsons or the husband’s other agnatic kin”This created a patriarchal society that introduced caste distinctions, modified gender relations & severely crippled women’s rights and power.#3  Job opportunities for Punjabi males in the militaryEast India Company escaped the first war of Indian independence in 1857 by skin of their teeth, and “reorganized into Britains Indian Army with vastly improved conditions of service”.British preferred to recruit Punjabi males into the military. The military was used by Britishers to protect their geo-political interests outside of India too. This created job opportunities for males and increased financial security with attractive remuneration and benefits.Despite survey statistics and reports, Britishers continued to dismiss facts.Many surveys and findings pointed to negative effects of its own policies, but administrators ignored those findings to fit the colonial persuasion on Hindu culture.  For example, none of the 40 or so district magistrates in Punjab were able to explain the practice in lower caste Hindu communities or by communities (Hindus AND ***Muslims*** included) that do not pay dowries for daughters. Administrators simply ignored those findings, dismissed them as mistakes as per their own admission and created atrocity literature.Result of it allColonial policies engineered a masculine economy.The preference for sons deepened, “gender targeting”, in her own words, was achieved through female infanticide as a direct result of colonial policies. The negative effect of land revenue assessments coupled with greed and increase in material interests transformed dowry from being a voluntary safety net into a mandatory or expected custom to ensure security.What was once a relationship based society was converted to a contract based society by applying capitalistic ideas (individual land rights),  importing Christian prejudices (crippling women’s rights) and advancing colonial motives (discrediting Hindu culture to justify civilizing mission).Contemporary TimesThe author turns to studying and analyzing historic cases of violence against women (several hundred) while undertaking research at an NGO, Saheli in New Delhi in the 80s and 90s.Dowry deaths were found to be true only in very few cases. Interestingly, it was found to be spread across Hindu upper caste, lower caste and Muslim communities thus debunking colonial theories. The study also revealed that dowry was not always the ONLY reason for dowry deaths. Case investigation, interviews and analysis revealed that dowry became a victim of social circumstances and legal convenience.She writes: “The undue emphasis on dowry often serves as a smokescreen that obscures other exacerbating causes for marital violence against women”The author wraps up the book with an epilogue that is quite revealing.The folly of pointing a finger at Hindu culture is evident.