The Internet is giving the old tradition of arranged marriage a new twist as dozens of matchmaking Web sites target spouse-seeking Asian Indians throughout the diaspora.

Owners of sites such as Suitablematch.com, IndianMarriages.com, Marriage.com and Indian.matrimonial.org say they have signed up hundreds of thousands of Indians aiming to meet Indians with similar backgrounds, whether along lines of caste or color. "Usually Indian Americans look at the newspaper," said Bharat Manglani of Suitablematch.com in Lexington, Mass. "There are temples for the Indian community. Sometimes people meet there. That is a very small number." In the United States, searching for an Indian mate can be especially complicated. The nation's comparatively small number of people of Indian descent numbered about 900,000 in 1990, according to the latest data available from the U.S. Census Bureau. "The Indian community is sprinkled," Manglani said. "It is well spread out over the United States. It was very hard to find someone through the newspapers or through word of mouth." Those in the market for a mate can set up a personal profile online, scanning in their photos and listing such personal detail as height, age and hair style, favorite season or dream job, their parents' occupation and caste. That part is free. But conducting detailed searches for a potential mate, specifying criteria, requires paid membership. This use of modern technology does not necessarily collide with Indian tradition. For ages, the practice of arranging marriages saw, for example, parents choosing a mate for their child, with an actual meeting between the new couple scheduled shortly before their wedding day. That practice declined for a period of time, beginning in the 1960s, replaced by what some Indians call "love marriages."