Is dowry part of Hindu dharma?

no. Demanding dowry is not dharma, the śāstras condemn taking a price for a bride, and it is a crime in India.

Some people confuse dowry with strīdhana. Strīdhana is the gifts given to the bride herself — jewellery, clothes, gifts from her parents and relatives — and in Dharmaśāstra it remains her own property. Dowry, the demand for money or goods by the groom’s family, is something else entirely, and it has caused immense suffering.

Manusmṛti and other texts explicitly criticise accepting any payment in connection with giving a daughter in marriage, calling it a form of selling (the āsura form of marriage is the one involving money). The ideal brāhma vivāha is one where the bride is honoured and nothing is demanded. In India, giving, taking or demanding dowry is punishable under the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961.

Parents may of course give their daughter gifts freely, as they would at any time — but those are hers, and no one has a right to ask. A family that refuses dowry is upholding dharma, not breaking it.

Strīdhana is the bride’s own property; dowry demand is not dharma · Source: Manusmṛti; Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961

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