However, dowry is an economic and definitely not a religious matter. The degenerate caste system and its sponsor conservative social and political rulers of India have provided a religious twist to it for their own interests. 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.
Indian scholars are aware of the situation but are reluctant to get involved.
The elite and the bourgeois find even more reasons to overlook the mess. The present author is not sure about the efficacy of Gandhi's methods. Even though Gandhi talked about the plight of the socially oppressed, including women and untouchables, his politics did nothing but bring about destruction of the Indian revolutionary forces and transfer of power from the British to the urban Hindu upper caste. Gandhi was not a revolutionary and was against any radical changes to the Indian social system. Otherwise, with his huge appeal to the Indian and international communities, he could have helped bring down evil and degenerate relics such as the caste barrier.