What Is a Marriage Biodata?

A marriage biodata is a one or two page profile of a boy or girl who is looking for a match. The family makes it and sends it to other families, usually on WhatsApp, before anyone meets. It carries the date and time of birth, education, job, family details, horoscope details if the family follows them, one photo and a phone number.

In Hindi-speaking homes people call it the shadi ka biodata. In Tamil Nadu you will also hear "jathagam biodata", because the horoscope often travels with it.

Biodata Meaning in Simple Words

"Biodata" is short for biographical data, which simply means facts about a person's life. In most countries the word is used for job applications. In India it took on a second meaning, and today most families hear "biodata" and think of marriage first.

A marriage biodata answers the questions the other family would otherwise ask on the phone. How old is the girl? What does the boy do? Where is the family from? How many brothers and sisters, and are they married?

It is short on purpose. Elders read it on a phone screen, and an uncle may forward it to five people the same evening.

What a Marriage Biodata Contains

Most biodatas follow the same order, from the person to the family to the phone number. Here is a filled example. The person and the details are made up for this page.

On top there is usually a small god image or symbol, like Ganesha for many Hindu families or 786 for Muslim families. Then a passport-size photo.

Some families add more: annual income, blood group, diet, gotra, the maternal uncle's name, a few lines About Me. None of these are compulsory.

How the Biodata Changes from Region to Region

The core is the same everywhere, but each region adds its own lines.

A Tamil biodata often prints the rasi and natchathiram near the top and mentions the kuladeivam (family deity). A Marathi lagnacha biodata may carry the devak and kuldaivat. Gujarati families often add the mosal, the mother's side. Punjabi biodatas mention the gotra, which is called the got. A Kerala biodata may give the house name.

Muslim biodatas usually skip the horoscope and mention the sect or the family's place of origin instead. Christian biodatas often name the parish church.

None of this is fixed by any rule. Families copy what they have seen in biodatas from their own community. That is why a biodata from Madurai and one from Mumbai can look quite different.

How Families Use a Biodata

The biodata is the first step in an arranged marriage, and it moves in a fairly fixed order.

1. The parents make the biodata and send it to relatives, a marriage broker or a community group.
2. A family with a son or daughter of the right age reads it and, if the horoscope matters to them, sends it to their astrologer.
3. If the horoscopes match and the details look right, one family calls the other.
4. The families meet, often at the girl's house first.

So the biodata is read many times before anyone picks up the phone. A wrong birth time or a missing detail can stop a proposal at step two, and nobody will call to tell you why.

Biodata, Resume and Matrimonial Profile Compared

These three get mixed up, so here is the short version.

A career objective, a list of skills and a signature at the bottom belong in a resume. Leave them out of a marriage biodata.

Who Should Make It, and When

Usually the parents make the biodata and keep their own phone number on it. That is still the norm in most communities, and the other side expects to talk to a parent first.

More and more young people now write their own About Me, even when the parents send the biodata. That works well. The parents handle the family details and the person writes the four lines about themselves.

Make the biodata only after the boy has completed 21 and the girl 18. These are the legal minimum ages for marriage in India under section 5 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, which applies to every religion.

Is a Biodata Only for Arranged Marriages?

Mostly, yes. But even in a love marriage, the boy's or girl's parents sometimes ask for a biodata to show the elders and the family astrologer. The same marriage biodata format works.

Shadi Biodata Kya Hota Hai

Shadi ka biodata ek ya do page ka parichay patra hota hai. Isme ladke ya ladki ka naam, janm tithi, janm samay, shiksha, naukri, parivar ki jaankari, kundli ki jaankari aur ek photo hoti hai. Ladke aur ladki dono ke parivaar ise WhatsApp par bhejte hain, aur pasand aane par baat aage badhti hai.

Our Hindi guide, shadi ke liye biodata kaise banaye, has the steps in Hinglish.

Making One Like the Example Above

You can make a biodata like this one on your phone in about 15 minutes. You pick a design and fill a form, and it works out rasi, nakshatra and lagna from the birth date, time and place. It prints in English or 11 Indian languages, and you download it as an A4 PDF or a single JPG.

To see one filled in for a boy and a girl, look at our marriage biodata sample page. For a field-by-field list, read what to write in a marriage biodata. For the full process, our 7-step guide to making a biodata walks through each part.