DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 659
her renunciation and ideals will for ever go down in annals of Indian culture and the history of mankind.
But in every society it has been found impossible for each and every individual, may be male or female, to live up to the highest of the ideals. Mahatma Gandhi has been acclaimed a superman by the whole world. He placed before us his ideals and though being his followers we ourselves could not live upto them. Similar is the composition of the society as also of the world. If this whole world and our Indian society in particular were to maintain the high standard of ideals then, I think, this very world would become a paradise.
Whenever some high ideal is set before the people then in order to create a proper atmosphere for it a number of things have got to be done. Take the case of the Hindu marriage system for instance. At the time of marriage the priests interpret this alliance to be so indissoluble, so everlasting that it would hold good for future births and re-births also. I don’t believe this. Because while on one side according to Hindu ideals we are led to believe that this marriage alliance between a Hindu male and female lasts till eternity, on the other hand in our holy scriptures it has been laid down that according to the philosophy of Karma, this alliance would have continued eternally even if in previous births, the husband may have been a human being or a demon or an animal, but I do not believe in such a thing. What I believe is that marriage is just a compromise for the life time. If our married couples were to hanker upon the legal possibilities regarding the dissolution of marriages then I think that our life would become quite useless. The result of such a state of affairs would be that the people will never be able to raise and maintain happy families. If such state of affairs do exist anywhere, then under such circumstances, there can neither be the evolution of our religion nor the cultural development of our country can take place. If under any circumstances the separation be deemed essential then I think the legal right must lie with the woman. Many defects have cropped up in our present day society. I think instances are not only known to me but all the gentlemen present here must be in the know of them. A husband can marry a second time even when the age of his wife may not be much. On the other hand a woman whose age may only be 16,
17 or 18 years cannot re-marry ; she has not been authorized to get her marriage dissolved. What such a state of affairs results in ? I do not want to go in details. I very humbly beg to submit only