550 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
and that even then it took no less than 4 years. Thus, it was only in 1900 that the Code drafted after almost 50 years of continuous labour was sanctioned by the Imperial German Government. Similarly, Sir, the Swiss Code in the continent of Europe as well as the other Codes were the result of continuous efforts for a number of years by the best legal talents of the country. Compare those territories and their condition with the conditions of India and the ancient history of India and the continuous streams of law that have been flowing into the development of Hindu law from ancient times upto the present time. I would submit that it will be a vain effort to codify the Hindu law. It will be futile to attempt codification of the personal laws of the Hindus. What is the source of this law I would respectfully ask. It is obviously not human in the sense that no human power ever attempted to promulgate Hindu law. The sanction behind the law was not of a sovereign power but a moral sanction of learning and the result of meditation of the sages. It is difficult to trace its origin; the smritikars —138 as they are said to be—did not purport to create the laws. They based their smritis on the Vedas and we know the Rig Veda is the oldest book in the world. Even Vigneshwar and Jimuta Vahana, the learned authors of the two main treatises which have held sway in India, did not attempt to codify the Hindu law or create new law for society; they only based their commentaries upon the smiritis. And during the long years of British and Muslim rule what has been done is simply an interpretation of the well known principles of Hindu Law. Now why should there be any codification of Hindu Law ? If the German and Swiss nations—which are no insignificant compared to India—took 50 or 60 years to bring about a satisfactory code to control their relations, why should we in India, where the origin and source of Hindu law are shrouded in mystery, try to codify the law ? We are told that it is sought to itroduce uniformity in this land of diversities ; the other reason advanced is that women in Hindu society have been subjected to age-long oppression and tyranny at the hands of men from which they have to be relieved. With regard to uniformity I submit that it has not been achieved in this present measure and cannot be achieved at all.
[ At this stage Mr. Speaker vacated the Chair, which was then occupied by Mr. Deputy-Speaker (Shri M. Ananthasayanam Ayyangar.) ]
Even in regard to the law of succession, in cases where the rule of primogeniture exists by custom or in case of grants or inams they