A few weeks ago, I was working on a freelance project for a wedding planning app. As part of my research, I began looking into Indian matchmaking websites to study how they drive traffic and build trust. That’s when I came across a string of niche matrimonial platforms—like Brahmin Matrimony, Tamil Matrimony, and Mudaliyar Matrimony. At first, I thought they were simply regional or language-based. But a deeper dive showed that these platforms were created to match people within the same caste.
Wait, what?
I grew up in a fairly urban environment. My world was Instagram reels, Shark Tank pitches, and weekend hackathons. While I’d heard of caste in school, it felt like one of those textbook concepts that didn’t really apply anymore. But these websites told a different story. They’re not outdated—millions of users are active. And not just parents—young people too. The user reviews, the success stories, the mobile apps—it was all super modern. That’s when it hit me: caste, especially in marriage, is still very much alive in India.
Take Mudaliyar Matrimony, for example. It caters exclusively to the Mudaliyar community, a Tamil caste traditionally associated with leadership and landowning. The site is polished, with filters for sub-castes, gotras, horoscopes—the works. It’s not a relic of the past. It’s a tech product with a clearly defined audience and purpose: to keep caste boundaries intact through marriage.
This made me reflect a lot.
As someone who works in digital marketing, I’m trained to segment audiences—to target people by behavior, interests, income levels. But caste? That was a line I never expected to see coded into a product funnel. It’s like personalization taken into a controversial and deeply cultural space. There’s a tension here: between progress and tradition, love and lineage, data and identity.
To be honest, I don’t have a solution or a strong opinion yet. I’m still processing. But I do think it’s important for our generation to talk about it—not with judgment, but with awareness. Because whether we like it or not, caste hasn’t vanished. It’s evolved. It’s now part of algorithms and apps.
I wonder what happens when Gen Z starts challenging these filters. Or maybe, some already are. Maybe some swipe right outside their community and rewrite the rules. Or maybe others choose to stick within them, and that’s their choice too. Either way, the conversation needs to happen.
So yeah, that’s what I learned last week—not from a campaign or a course, but from one unexpected search result: Mudaliyar Matrimony.
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