A marriage biodata should have the full name, date, time and place of birth, height, education, job, the parents' names and occupations, brothers and sisters, native place and one mobile number. Add rasi, nakshatra and gotra if your family matches horoscopes. Income, complexion and property are optional. Aadhaar, PAN and the full house address should never go in.
Below is every field, with what to write and an example line you can copy and change.
Must-Have and Optional Fields
This table follows the order most biodatas use. The field names are the ones on our form, so you can match each row to the screen.
| Field | Must-have or optional | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Full Name | Must-have | Divya Subramanian |
| Date of Birth | Must-have | 4 January 1998 |
| Time of Birth | Must-have if horoscopes are matched | 11:20 pm |
| Place of Birth | Must-have | Madurai, Tamil Nadu |
| Height | Must-have | 5 ft 3 in |
| Religion, Caste / Community | Usually written | Hindu, Saiva Pillai |
| Education | Must-have | M.Sc Chemistry, Lady Doak College |
| Job / Occupation | Must-have | Quality analyst, a pharma company, Hyderabad |
| Marital Status | Write it if not "Never Married" | Divorced |
| Annual Income | Optional | 7.2 lakh a year |
| Diet | Optional | Vegetarian |
| Hobbies | Optional | Carnatic music, cooking |
| About Me | Optional, but read closely | 3 or 4 short lines |
| Rasi, Nakshatra, Lagna | If horoscopes are matched | Mesha, Bharani, Tula |
| Chevvai / Manglik | If horoscopes are matched | No |
| Gotra | Common in Hindu biodatas | Kashyapa |
| Father's Name and Occupation | Must-have | S. Subramanian, retired, TNEB |
| Mother's Name and Occupation | Must-have | S. Lalitha, homemaker |
| Brothers, Sisters | Must-have | 1 younger brother (unmarried) |
| Native Place | Must-have | Melur |
| Family Type | Optional | Nuclear Family |
| Maternal Uncle | Optional | K. Raghavan, Tirunelveli |
| Mobile Number | Must-have | One parent's number |
| Address | Optional at first | City only, until talks move ahead |
Personal and Horoscope Details
Write the name as it appears on certificates. If the family calls him "Bunty" but his degree says "Abhishek Sharma", the biodata says Abhishek Sharma.
Write the date in words, "4 January 1998", not 04/01/98. Why? An uncle in the US reads 04/01 as April.
The time of birth needs am or pm, and it should come from the horoscope written at birth or the hospital record. A gap of even 15 minutes can change the lagna. Near a nakshatra change, it can change the star itself.
If your family follows horoscopes, add rasi, nakshatra, lagna and the manglik status. Our form works out the first three from the birth details, using the Lahiri ayanamsa. You can pick a different value from the list if your family jothidar wrote something else. Our page on biodata with horoscope details explains each line.
Education, Occupation and Income
Give the full degree and, if it helps, the college. "B.Tech, IIT Madras" and "B.Tech" are read very differently. Elders notice.
For the job, write the designation first, then the company and the city. "Senior Accountant, Tata Motors, Pune" answers three questions in one line. If he runs a business, say what kind and where: "Runs a wholesale cloth shop, Surat."
Income is optional. Many skip it. If you write it, use one figure per year, like 9.6 lakh a year. Do not mix monthly and yearly numbers. Many families prefer to share income only after the first phone call.
Family Details, Including the Maternal Side
Parents' names with occupation come first. "Retired, Indian Bank" says more than "Retired".
For brothers and sisters, mention elder or younger and married or unmarried. "1 elder sister (married, Bengaluru)" saves a phone call.
Native place is the family's ancestral town, even if nobody has lived there for 30 years. In Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, many families also add the maternal uncle's name and town, and our form has a Maternal Uncle line for it.
More on this part is in our guide to family details in a biodata.
About Me, Hobbies and Lifestyle
About Me is three or four lines: what the person does, what they enjoy, and what kind of home they hope for. It is the only part of the biodata in the person's own voice, so elders read it more than once. Our About Me guide has samples.
Hobbies? Two real ones are enough. Diet (vegetarian, eggetarian, non-vegetarian) is worth adding, because it decides a lot in daily life.
Partner Expectations
Keep it short. One or two lines at the end of About Me is enough. "Looking for a working girl from a Tamil family, open to living in Bengaluru." Our form has no separate expectations box. A long list of conditions puts families off, so write only what truly matters to you. Our guide to partner expectations has wording for both sides.
Contact Details and Photo
Give one mobile number that a parent answers, with a name if it is not the father's. Write the city only, not the house number, while the biodata is going to many families.
Add one recent passport-size photo, taken in daylight, face and shoulders. A photo from a wedding function with five relatives cropped out looks exactly like that.
What Never to Include
A biodata can pass through 20 or 30 phones in a week, and you cannot call it back. Leave these out:
- Aadhaar number, PAN, passport number, bank details
- Salary slips or a photo of an offer letter
- Full house address with door number
- Photos of other family members, especially young girls in the family
- Details about past relationships, or why an earlier engagement broke
India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 will let a person ask a company to correct or erase their personal data, once that part starts around May 2027, as the Press Information Bureau explains. Even then, that right does not help much once a PDF is sitting in a hundred WhatsApp chats, so the safer step is to not write sensitive details at all.
If a biodata or photo is misused on a fake profile, you can complain on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal.
Biodata Me Kya Likhe, Quick Hinglish List
Naam, janm tithi, janm samay, janm sthaan aur kad. Phir dharm, jaati, padhai aur naukri. Kundli maante hain to rashi, nakshatra aur gotra. Pita aur mata ka naam aur vyavsay, bhai-behen, mool niwas, mere baare mein, aur ek mobile number. Aadhaar, PAN aur poora pata kabhi mat likhiye. Poora tarika hamare Hindi guide mein hai.
When your list is ready, you can start your biodata here and fill each line in the same order. For the whole layout on one page, see the marriage biodata format, and for a filled one, the marriage biodata sample page.
Common questions
Is It Necessary to Mention Caste in a Biodata?
No. Many families write it because they look for matches within the community. If caste does not matter to you, leave the field empty or write "No bar" in the expectations line.
Should I Include Salary and Property Details?
Income is optional, and property is better left for later conversations. If you add income, give a yearly figure and keep it accurate.
Should I Write My Son's Exact Company Name?
Yes, if he is comfortable with it. Families like to know whether he works at a known company. If he prefers privacy, write the field and city, like "Software engineer, product company, Bengaluru".
What If We Do Not Know the Time of Birth?
Leave Time of Birth empty. Rasi and nakshatra can usually still be worked out from the date, but lagna needs the time. Ask the family astrologer whether he can match horoscopes without it.
How Many Details Are Too Many?
If the biodata goes past two pages, it has too many. Cut the optional fields first, then shorten About Me.
Sources
Related Guides
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