314 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
necessity would be felt for repairing the society then repairs will
12 N OON have to be done. I strongly oppose those persons who hold that this Bill would put the Hindu Culture to an end. I am not prepared to acknowledge even for one moment the fact that
this Assembly or the Honourable members of this house, who have the same ability as the Smritikars of the old, do not have the right of making any changes in our Shastras or Laws. I hold that the members of each
and every community have got the fullest rights to frame laws according to the needs of the time. Today if some one makes an appeal that this
being an old custom so we must act accordingly; then about such an allegation I would submit that there is not a single custom that India has not experimented with. There are certain places in India where the
system of inheritance is quite different from the other parts of India. Do we not know that among the Khasi tribes and in some parts of
Southern Punjab the entire institution of inheritance depends upon the fact that the entire property devolves upon the daughters instead of sons. There are certain parts in India where instead of the girl going to her
father-in-law’s place the husband of the girl is imported into the wife’s family.. India is such a country where every type of custom and law
has been in vogue. Is there any such social system that we have not tried. Only yesterday Dr. Ambedkar told that in some Smrities it is mentioned that daughters should be declared similar heirs along with
sons. So this provision was present since long. Apart from this I do not know of any other law that can be called a new one. Divorce is customary
in many places even today. On going through the old Smrities it is found that divorce is mentioned there also. I am not prepared to accept that we must revert to those old ideals simply because for the
reason that they are mentioned in the old Smrities. If we think that those ideals do not suit our present day society then why should those
ideals be kept up. I know that in India there was a time when even the institution of marriage itself was not in vogue in India, and the people did not know anything about marriages. In olden days the system of
Niyog continued for a long time in India. The Hindu Law mentions
8 kinds of marriages. Some of those kinds of marriages cannot even be
called marriages. Can anyone assert that those ideals should be reintroduced in the present times. I do not think there is any. So I do not want to consider the question that is before us today from this view
point as to what was in vogue in the olden days, how our ancestors used