CHAPTER 12
The Morals of the House
This is 61 page typed manuscript. This is a second copy but it is having corrections and modifications by Dr. Ambedkar himself. It is reproduced here taking all the corrections into account. There is one separate file entitled ‘Manu Smriti or the Gospel of Counter-Revolution ’. In that copy notes on Manu Smriti under various categories have been drawn. However, all these notes have been found to be incorporated in this essay, ‘Morals of the Mouse.’ It is felt that the printing of these notes would be a mere repetition of this essay. Hence, the said copy is not separately printed:
I
The morals of the Hindus and their religious creed are prescribed by the Smritis which form a part of the Sacred literature of the Hindus. It is to the Smritis that one must go to understand the Ethics and the Religion of the Hindus. The Smritis are by no means few in number. A conservative estimate gives the total number of Smritis to be 108. The large number of Smritis cannot however make our problem difficult. For though the Smritis are numerous they do not differ in essentials. Indeed they repeat one another so closely that reading the Smritis creates a most monotonous task. They are all derived from one common source. That source is the Smriti of Manu otherwise known as Manava Dharma Shastra. The other Smritis are faithful repetitions of the Manu Smriti. A study of the Manu Smriti is therefore quite sufficient to obtain an adequate conception of the moral standards and Religious notions of the Hindus.
It may be said that Manu Smriti—and the same is true of the other Smritis—is a Code of Laws. It is not a book of Ethics nor is it a book of Religion and to take a book of Laws and to treat it as though it is a book of Ethics and Religion is to confound Ethics, Religion and Law.