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Dowry is the practice
of giving money and jewelry on a daughter’s marriage to the husband
and his family. Even poor families are forced by social pressure
to pay dowries for their daughters on their marriage.
How BAPS Helps
BAPS has started a war against this evil practice. In various
public assemblies and in private gatherings, Pujya Pramukh Swami
Maharaj has spoken against dowry. He particularly addresses the
in-laws to whose house the newly married girl goes. The girl,
he says, "should be treated as a daughter. She is not a commodity.
The in-laws should not pressurize their son to ask for dowry.
This practice in not at all a civilized custom."
Pledge
Against Taking Dowry
To save women against dowry, BAPS encourages youths and young
men to pledge against accepting dowry. The results have been remarkable.
- On 6th December 1989, Bharuch,
India, some 20,000 men, including Minister for the State of
Gujarat – Mr. Harisinh Mahida, pledged against dowry.
- In 1990 during a 5-day International
Youth Convention held at Vidyanagar, India, 21,000 youths
pledged that they would not accept dowry.
Every year many more
men take pledges against dowry at seminars and local conventions
organized by BAPS.
Dowry-Free
Mass Marriages
BAPS organizes mass marriages
to dispel the social evil of dowry and help the poor meet the
cost of marriage. Under a single canopy couples get married in
the traditional Vedic manner. These mass marriages have helped
hundreds of young couples and their families.
Main
Dowry-free Mass Marriages organized by BAPS:
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Date
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Venue
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Couples
Married
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7th
Dec. 1995
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Amrut Mahotsav Festival in
Mumbai, India
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85 couples
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19th
Aug. 1995
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First Indian Dowry-free Mass
Marriage in London – Inauguration of Sri Swaminarayan
Mandir, London
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11 couples
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8th
Dec. 1994
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Mehsana, South Gujarat
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20 couples
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17th,
18th, 19th Nov. 1992
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Gandhinagar, India – Brahmaswarup
Yogiji Maharaj Centenary Celebrations.
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150 couples
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23rd
Nov. 1990
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Sarangpur, Gujarat, India
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46 couples
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5th
Dec. 1989
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Bharuch, India
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14 couples
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27th
Nov. 1987
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Mumbai, India
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19 couples
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24th
Nov. 1985
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Amdavad – Bicentenary Celebrations
of Aksharbrahman Gunatitanand Swami.
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26 couples
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Against
Infanticide
More than 170 years ago, Bhagwan Swaminarayan abolished the
practice of ‘dudhpiti’ or female infanticide as part of his
mission to uplift society.
Today, Pujya Pramukh
Swami Maharaj preaches against the new form of dudhpiti. Recent
studies report that couples are increasingly using ultrasound
scanners or sonography and other gender tests to learn the gender
of their offspring in the first few weeks of pregnancy. If the
child is not of the gender they desire, abortion is performed.
In 1997, India reported 6 million abortions, of which 70% fetuses
were female. In Mumbai, a clinic performed 8,000 abortions,
7,999 were of girls.
"It (Abortion)
is dudhpiti," says Swamishri, "a form of killing and
murdering. No one has the right to kill another individual,
whether born or unborn."
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