As per Hindu Law of India, ‘stridhan’ refers to all valuables — movable and immovable property, gifts, etc — a woman receives in her lifetime, including before and at marriage and during the birth of her child. But in the Syrian Christian culture of Kerala in India, streedhanam is not seen as a gift but falls under the category of prestations. Symbolically, it meant the severing of economic ties for a woman from her natal home and her incorporation into the conjugal household. The Travancore Christian Succession Act which governed this community was repealed by the Supreme Court in 1986. Hence streedhanam is no longer treated as severing of economic ties because now the woman is also entitled to a share in the estate of her father along with her brothers on intestacy. This has prompted the continuance of the practice of streedhanam in the community and ultimately claiming of the woman’s share in her father’s property resulting in double profiting for the groom of this community and double burden for the bride’s family. The paper highlights the veiled form of dowry system prevelant in the community in the name of erstwhile practice of streedhanam. Cultural Materialism as a theoretical approach is adopted using the literary text of Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things (1997) to reflect the gender conflicts that arise as a result of these social practices. (230 words)