372 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
or is it something deeper, that pertains to the soul, the heart, the mind and the spirit ? Dharma !The etymology of this word in Sanskrit is— Dharma is that by which the world is supported, yenedam dharyate jagat. That by which the world—”Jagat”—is supported is Dharma.
Now are we not to ask whether the observance of a few ceremonies, rituals, and formal conventions constitute Dharma, or whether it is something deeper ?
As regards the Smritis which are interlinked or interlocked with Dharma, my honourable friend Dr. Ambedkar said the other day that there are perhaps 137 Smritis. If I am wrong he will correct me. I believe he has counted them. Of the Upanishads it is stated there are 108 and so many other unknown and unearthed Upanishads. There may also be many more Smritis unknown and unearthed. Of the Smritis known to Dr. Ambedkar there are 137. And now we have got the 138th Smritis. He will pardon me if I refer to this, not in a light-hearted fashion, because this is also a measure, which although not revolutionary, has introduced changes in our Hindu social relations. So I can apply the same term as has been applied to the other Hindu social codes and social texts that have been already written for us. This we may call the 138th Smriti. I may call it the Bhim Smriti. I hope Dr. Ambedkar will pardon me if I refer to this as the Bhim Smriti. If I have got to include the name of the other protagonist of the movement, which has culminated in the drafting and the presentation of this Bill, I would refer to it as the Narasimha. It is the Rau Committee which has led to this Bill. Ultimately I will not refer to it as the Bhim Smriti but the Bhim Narasimha Smriti.
Coming to the measure before us : though the Smritis are well-known, still they differ among themselves. The same Smritikara at times differs in different texts of the Smriti. It is very well known that even a poet is not consistent in his poetry. Shakespeare referred to women in one play as “Frailty, thy name is woman” : in other play he goes on to describe a woman who was strong enough to inflict wounds in her own thigh : I mean Portia of Brutus ! Coming to our own country, the great poet and philosopher, Tulsidas has said: dhor ganwar Shudra aru nari yah sab tadana ke adhikari. For the benefit of my friends who do not know Hindi, it means that a rustic, an illiterate man, an animal, a shudra and a woman—these all deserve a beating.
Shri Raj Bahadur (United States of Matsya): I would inform the House that the interpretation put by Mr. Kamath upon this well known cuplet is absolutely incorrect.