This paper explores the current practice and representation of dowry marriage by members of Brahman, Gosain and Chamar families in semi-rural eastern Uttar Pradesh. The paper approaches dowry not primarily as an institution to do with the transfer of property at marriage, but more importantly as the currently most significant means of assessing and representing social status, honour and prestige in the region. As the most comprehensive public measure of social prestige, dowry was an important arena within which people represented their social positions and their relations to others. The paper explores people's discursive constructions of dowry marriage and the manner in which they used their understanding of dowry to reflect upon social relations within. their communities.