You Can Buy a Husband at India’s 700-Year-Old Groom Market

odditycentral.com/ ^ | August 11th, 2022

[BenLurkin]

Every year, thousands of men gather under the Pipal trees in the local market area of Madhubani district, India’s Bihar state, and wait to be chosen by prospective brides. Called Saurath Mela or Sabhagachhi, the 9-day groom market was allegedly started by Raja Hari Singh of the Karnat dynasty over seven centuries ago to make it easier for women to find the right husband from a diverse group of men. Each groom is priced based on their capability, including their educational qualifications and family background.

Maithili women in Bihar choose their husbands. Accompanied by their families, they browse the available offers, ask for proof such as birth certificates and school certificates, and if they find someone they like (and they can afford), they start discussing the details.

Bihar’s traditional groom market, reporting that engineers, doctors and government employees are most sought after, with the young ones being the most popular. Even though dowries are officially illegal in India, and that one of the main goals of the groom market was to eliminate the dowry, it’s still common practice for young, eligible bachelors to demand considerable dowries from the family of the bride.

[D Rider]

“If your friend jumped off a bridge, would you jump too?”

My personal favorite. The answer is, "Of course! All my friends are doing it."

[100%FEDUP]

Have fun wallowing in your own self-righteousness!

[rlmorel]

LOL, I remember one time my mom was trying to backhand my brother next to me in the back seat, and he cagily kept his face just out of reach of her extended arm.

She jammed on the brakes, he lurched forward into her offensive zone where she could reach him, and she smacked him!

[rlmorel]

LOL, I heard that too, but I never thought it was going to be true!

[rlmorel]

Hahahahahaha, then...

“Don’t get fresh with ME.”

[familyop]

“700-Year-Old Groom”

Well done, men! That’s pretty old.

[CodeJockey]

If this ones doing the shopping, then I'd put myself up for sale.

[D Rider]

We must have had the same mom.

[mikey_hates_everything]

I spent 6 weeks in New Delhi. That was enough for a lifetime. I couldn’t understand the tourists who paid to be there. I was getting paid to work there and couldn’t wait to get out. This sums it up perfectly.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

DH is officially a dad.

The only thing on that list I don't remember him doing is the stud finder bit.

"No, your other right" is practically a family motto.

[rlmorel]

LOL, back in the fifties or sixties, they probably all read from the same book that wasn’t the infamous Dr. Spock (the pediatrician, not the Vulcan!).

There is NO way my mom ever read THAT book...

[CodeJockey]

I imagine so. Raw sewage gets dumped directly in to Ganges river.

[Dr. Sivana]

Great test, I got 10 out of 20.

[Scrambler Bob]

Yeah, one day at lunch as I sat beside my Dad, he kind of reached up, maybe for something.

I dived out of my chair onto the floor, anticipating a smack.

With 5 kids, there would get to be a lot of joking and laughing and messing around.

I still do not know if the smack was coming, or he was reaching.

I still wonder what he thought, me diving onto the floor. Did he picture himself as a cruel brute?

Nothing was said. I re-sat and lunch continued.

[Oil Object Insp]

19/20.....

[rlmorel]

Heh, he probably thought “Hey. What are you doing on the floor? Get up from there.” and went back to reading his paper, as they did in those days!

[EvilCapitalist]

Helen Thomas?

[metmom]

That would be about right.

[wardaddy]

Can you buy a woman ? Gotta be discriminating with Indians though no offense aboriginal genetics can be well …,,

Burma is good new hunting ground they say thin and taller and feminine and grateful

[EvilCapitalist]

Yuck! Hairy armpits.