DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 651
polygamy. There may be individual cases; but that is quite different. The whole body of public opinion now, I submit confidently, is in favour of monogamy. Therefore, there is nothing objectionable, so far as that is concerned in the present Bill, and, as I have said, permission for divorce cannot possibly raise any difficulty because, after all a permissive provision must necessarily be there for those unfortunate cases where divorce is called for.
Proceeding, Sir, to the next point as to why there should be any change at all (that was the point on which I was) it has been said that there must be a strict adherence to Shastric law and that there should be no departure whatsoever from it. For hours this discussion has been carried on the floor of this House. It has been contended that shastric law is absolutely final, inviolate and inviolable. You cannot change it. I should like to know what Shastric law means. As a matter of fact, in our shastras there is always provision for change and there has always been change. Otherwise what is the meaning of these numerous Smritis. We have it in Manu the well known injunction that there are four sources, four norms, of conduct laid down:
श्रति: स्मृति: सदाचार: स्वस्य च प्रियमात्मन । एतश्चतुर्विध प्राह: सक्षाद्धमस्य लक्षणं ।।
Which being translated means Shruti, Smriti, the usages established by righteous men and the satisfaction of one’s own inner self—these furnish the four standards or norms of conduct. These four norms of conduct include within them the inner satisfaction of the soul, the conscience by which, I take it is meant not individual conscience only, but social conscience also. The social conscience of the age in which we live has got to be respected and that is one of the standards by which our conduct, our Dharma is to be ascertained. That is one of the standards by which law must be laid down and it is on this principle that all along, the law, the so-called Shastric law, has changed and changed and changed. My hon. friend, the Minister of Law said in his opening speech that if you go to Parasara Smriti or Narada Smriti you find there provision for widow re-marriage, and provision for very many other things which may be called revolutionary. How did they ever come to it? How did they get beyond the barriers, as it was, and break through them and start upon something which was revolutionary? It was because according to the highest injunctions laid down, there are not only Shruti and Smriti but other