ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the negotiations of Hindu religious identities in terms of search criteria and of self-description in matrimonial profiles. It discusses caste identity as an important socioreligious category without going into the depths of the system itself or the ritual duties and functions of certain castes or subcastes. Religious identification is strongly interwoven with all aspects of marriage on the subjective as well as the community level. Hence, India’s matrimonial market can be seen as a paradigmatic process of medialization. Digital Hinduism features as a cross-cutting theme in so far as religious (self-)identification is, to some extent, demanded through the design of online matrimonial media. In the case of matrimonial media, users are asked to enter their caste as a major category in their profile mask; hence, it emphasizes caste as an important social criterion to be considered in matchmaking.
