Dowry is illegal in India under the Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961 and is universal in Punjab.
It takes the form of goods rather than a stated cash payment: furniture, appliances, vehicles, gold, and the expenditure on the wedding itself, which the bride's family bears disproportionately.
It is a leading cause of rural debt, alongside health expenditure. It is also one of the mechanisms behind the preference for sons and therefore behind Punjab's child sex ratio.
The Sikh Rehat Maryada is explicit that no dowry should be given or taken and that a marriage should not be settled for money. Gurdwara bodies have passed resolutions against it repeatedly.
It continues because refusing it damages a family's standing, which is izzat operating as an economic force.
The most consequential social practice in Punjab is illegal, doctrinally prohibited, universally condemned and universally performed, and nobody has found a way to stop it.
The daaj is the goods that go with the bride: bedding, utensils, clothes, furniture, and now a vehicle and gold. The scale is public, because it is displayed, and the display is part of the function.
The law prohibiting it dates from 1961 and has been amended repeatedly. Prosecutions are rare and are usually brought after a marriage has broken down rather than at the time.
Punjab's sex ratio at birth was among the worst in India for two decades, and the cost of marrying a daughter is the reason families themselves give in every study of it.