Vol. 14, Part I · pages 31–35

DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 13 the straw hat industry was at once revived. That is the power of the king; he is not merely the political head of a State, but head of society, the exemplar, the mentor and the monitor. As such he evaluates the customs age long, traditional and hoary—sanctified by age and it lies in his power to change that custom one way or the other. But what has been our fate since the British rule had come into existence? So long as the Muslims were ruling this country, they copied our customs and we copied their customs; there was an inter-mixture and intercurrency of customs and therefore, some measures of social progress. But after the British came, when they came to be looked upon as untouchables and even unapproachables by the vast majority of the population of this country, the situation was that they were afraid to touch the customs of this country with the longest pole. They were afraid of any interference with the socio-religious structure which was a delicate structure almost like a chemical balance and bore the repercussions of the smallest change coming from abroad and from adventitious sources. They were afraid that such repercussions would be ruinous to the stability of their empire in this country and therefore, they adopted the plausible and seemingly reasonable altitude of not interfering with the religion or the custom of the land. In this manner the Judges of the High Courts always helped to register the custom as it had existed for long centuries behind, and never registered a change in the custom as marking a progress in society. Thus custom became petrified and when custom became petrified, progress became impeded altogether, and for a hundred and fifty years our society has not been able to make any progress. If social evils had been pointed out by missionaries at one stage they were so pointed out in a spirit of carping criticism rather than in a spirit of progressive helpfulness. And as time advanced and English education took root and as democracy spread its tentacles and got firm hold upon the affections of the people another change came into being. The very missionaries and clergymen who were so keen on educated Indians throwing off the trammels of their orthodoxy became suddenly conservative and critical of the drastic changes which the English educated people were taking to with a certain amount of irresponsible case. They began to inquire whether after all these people who were so readily taking to these changes meant to take to these changes or whether they were

DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES14 simply throwing away by way of relaxation the rigid customs of age and of society. They did not like it because the spirit of reform is always destructive of their own power. In the encouraging of reform themselves they saw the dangers to their rule and the missionary saw at once that he was encouraging a certain amount of rebellious spirit in the nation. Now Brahmoism was looked upon as the saving factor in this country, but Brahmoism was thereupon condemned by the missionary because it provided a hailing house for the reform spirit of the nation. Thus the misssionary himself became conservative. Englishmen became conservative, custom became rigid, society became petrified and congealed and coagulated, as it were, in a chamber which was not wide or expansive, thus, we have suffered, so much so that the issue of a post-puberty marriage in the Punjab was declared illegitimate by the High Court. This was the last straw that broke the back of progressive society. Immediately, there was an attempt to break the bones of custom, by trying to reform the marriage law. Act 3 of 1870, popularly known as the Brahmo Marriage Act, required, however, a certain denial statement, “I repudiate that I am a Hindu or a Muslim or a Christian or a Parsee or a Jain or a Jew.” This obnoxious declaration was associated with the provisions of that Act. Therefore, it did not become popular. Later on the Sarda Act came into being; fortunately it has set the seal of authority upon that piece of social reform which the heads of orthodoxy were imposing and were impeding. A new era has begun. The Indian National Congress which had started in 1885 had till 1919 associated with it as an ancillary and an auxiliary a social reform organisation which dealt with the social evils of the country and suggested various legislative measures also. But there was a non willingness on the part of the British Government to effect those legislative changes and as time progressed there was also an unwillingness on the part of society to accept the social reform at the hands of foreigners in this country. Fortunately, Sir, today we have survived those times, I am glad I am alive to see the age when on the initiative of the National Government a progressive measure of reform, comprehensive in outlook, far-reaching in its result, medical in its nature, is being put forward, which embraces the rights of women in regard to inheritance, in regard to marriage, in regard to property, in regard to divorce, in

DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 15 regard to personal freedom. And I hope, as time advances we shall have more and more of reforms in this direction to which this measure points today. Let us start with the full rights that have been conferred upon the woman after the death of her husband. In our Shastras it has been briefly described that the woman is the bond slave of her father when she is young, to her husband when she is middle aged and to her son when she is a mother. Of course all epigrams, aphorisms, proverbs, platitubes and truisms are half truths. There is a core of truth about them. We sometimes find it useful to quote these things but there is a core of untruth also about them and we should try to understand the full significance of all these. According to the measures before us, a woman will have property in her own right and be able to dispose of her property. I have been trying to see whether the Law Minister would explain when these rights would come into force. Suppossing after the passing of this measure a man dies and his widow inherits his property: what are her rights compared with the rights of a widow whose husband died one year ago? The latter possesses limited estates. What is the change sought to be introduced? Can widows with only limited estates convert those limited estates into full right estates with the right to give away, to mortgage, to sell and so on, irrespective of whether there is legal necessity in the interests of the family or not? That is a point which I have been trying to understand by turning up the pages of the measure before me but I have not been able to understand it. I dare say, in his reply the Mover of the Bill will be so good as to elucidate the point. The ‘rights’ of the daughter is a matter on which I have been feeling very keenly. When speaking to English people or when discussing Indian conditions and society with savants and scholars coming from abroad, I have never been tired of praising my own system. If you wish to understand the basis of a system, or appraise any of its social customs or practices, you must not lake it in its present degenerate condition. But you must take it in all its pristine purity and glory. I look upon child marriage as a splendid institution as our ancients conceived it because they conceived it good for the average man and the average woman to be married. And this marriage is a

DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES16 good thing because the child has to be grafted into another family and grafting should take place while the plant is young and not when the plant has become old. But then, the conception itself has changed. Now we live in an age when it is much more happy to be bachelors and criticise others’ wives than to marry and beget children. Therefore, our ideals have changed and therefore, the principle of child marriage may not be binding upon us. Each one is at liberty to live his or her own life according to her or his pleasure and there is no obligation imposed by society and social conditions have changed. Under the circumstances we should not indeed be the victims of past tradition, past customs, past events. But how shall we deal with the facts which exist at the present day: so many daughters and so many sisters are not merely vegetating but they are rotting in their homes. While we praise our systems to others, we cannot shut from our own eyes the fact that our sisters and daughters and other relations are rotting in their own homes unable to get any relief. Latterly I have suggested a love strike for our women. That is the only remedy which I have thought out and I have been able to think it out as a remedy directed against this custom. I read a book called “The Impregnable Women” while I was in the Ahmednagar Fort. There was a war in England and all the women wanted to resist the war. How could they resist? The men are greedy. The men are pugnacious and blood-thirsty. They want to fight. They want to measure the strength of the tiger and ape it them with the strength of the ape and tiger in others. Therefore, the women said : let us have a love strike. No young maiden would speak to her lover; no wife would speak to her husband; no mother would speak to her son. The men were boycotted. There was no social life between men and women until the war about to be declared was cancelled. They said they would not mix with these people. But, I will not push the matter further. I suggest that if in a village, or town, or mohalla, there is ill-treatment of a single woman, all our wives had better have a club and go away from our houses and live there for 24 hours and very soon the recalcitrant husband will be brought to his senses. All the men will bring their moral influence to bear upon this man and they will tell him: “What the hell are you doing? All our homes are

DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 17 broken up and they will remain broken unless you take back your wife.” You may laugh now. But what else are you going to do? Are you going to prosecute the man? He will bring up his charges. Are you going to prosecute the wife? She will bring a number of charges. You should not enter into the quarrels between husband and wife. Once I found a husband beating his wife. I went and interfered. The woman turned round and came down on me like a wolf on the fold. She said: “It is my husband who is beating me. Who the hell are you to interfere?” Therefore, it is not possible for you easily to interfere in domestic affairs. After all the Kowravas and Pandawas when they fought, they used to say : “we are 100 against 5 but against a third party they said we are 100 plus 5” So in these domestic quarrels both are against us when we meddle in their affairs. So if the daughter is to be happy she must be able to inherit property in her own right I find that the position of a wife is most obsequious. Her sister’s son comes. Her brother comes. She wants to give them a good present. But the wife has to wait upon the goodwill of her husband in order to get even Rs. 5. After all this man has his moods. And he may be in a good mood or a bad mood. So she must have some properly which she can call her own. Would you wish her to get rid of some of her jewels? The idea is fantastic. No woman will sell away her jewellery even after her husband’s death because after her husband’s death that jewellery stands as the symbol of the unity of herself and her deceased spouse. I know it. I have spoken to many women. Mr. Chairman : Does the Honourable Member want to speak for a longer time? Dr. B. Pattabhi Sitaramayya : I am sorry. I was not looking at the time. I would like to continue. Mr. Chairman : The House will now adjourn for half an hour and reassemble at Half Past Five of the Clock. The Assembly then adjourned till Half Past Five of the Clock in the afternoon.