The shift from the traditional matchmaker to the matrimonial advertisement, esp among educated Ur circles, is one of the many changes in contemporary India. An investigation of 305 such advertisements from about 50 consecutive issues (JAN 1957) of the Madras daily newspaper The Hindu & of 374 advertisements from consecutive issues (JAN, 1959) of The Hindustan Times Weekly of New Delhi permitted comparison between the customs of south & north. In both areas the advertisements were placed by the fam, not the individual. More daughters than sons were offered for marriage & husbands were most often requested for girls between the ages of 21 & 25, brides for men between 26 & 30. Though officially banned, caste was mentioned in 96% of the southern advertisements & in 83% of the northern. Horoscopes & dowries remained of greater importance in the south than in the north, where 32% stated that no dowry was expected. Qualities sought or offered in a bride were good looks, housekeeping talents, Coll or U educ, musical or cultural abilities & health. Light skin was highly desired in the south but not at all in the north where there was greater emphasis on educ. The professional, soc, & econ position of the man was of 1st consideration, with prefernce for those in gov service, followed by private businessmen, teachers & military officers. The econ value of the professionally trained woman was brought forward in several ads of both north & south. Widowers who placed 8 ads in The Hindu & 3 in The Hindustan Times Weekly stated that they had no objection to widows, but specified unencumbered virgin widows. The stress on independent income points to a breakdown' in the jointfam tradition & to the establishment of individual fam's, to which the educated woman is making ever greater contributions. AA.
