Bridewealth and dowry have certain obvious similarities in that they
both involve the transmission of property at marriage, the usual
interpretation suggesting that what distinguishes them is the direction
in which the property travels - in the case of bridewealth, from the
husband and his kin to the wife and her kin, and in the case of dowry,
vice versa. The authors of these 1973 papers criticise this
interpretation as oversimplified, and analyse the two institutions in
the contexts of Africa, with its preponderance of bridewealth, and South
Asia, where dowry is the commoner institution. Dr Goody seeks to explain
these geographical differences in terms of the basic structure of the
societies and the rules governing the inheritance of property. Dr
Tambiah considers these institutions in India, Ceylon and Burma as two
kinds of property transfer, examining Indian juridical concepts, and
relating these to the concepts and practices of Ceylon and Burma.