722 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
in Volume XI of the Allahabad Law Journal a very learned article by the late Dr. Satish Chandra Banerjee of Allahabad, one of the most promising and most eminent lawyers that this country had produced but whose career was unfortunately cut short by his death at a very early age. It is a very elaborate article. Also the book of Dr. K. Biswas of Patna. All these contain quotations from the Vedas and other persons who came in before Manu as to what the position of women at that time was. The position of the women at that time was that, she was a full owner of the property of the husband. Maharishi Jaimni says, commenting on the Vedic texts, that “the wife is entitled to the wealth from the moment of her marriage and whatever is acquired by the husband also belongs to her.” That is to say she becomes a full co-parcener. Then, dealing with another text, he says “Not only is the woman possessed of the same religious and civil rights as man but all wealth which he (that is the husband) acquires is at her disposal. She is entitled to control even the disposition of acquired property by the husband”—his own acquired property. That is the conception of a co-parcener which we had. Just as a son from the moment of his birth gets a share and can control the father’s alienations, unless they are for family necessities or for just purposes, similarly should the woman have the right from the time of her marriage. My submission is, let us go back to these old Vedic texts and all our Hindu law and its glory before the period of degradation began and the rights of women came to be curtailed, and let us make her a co-parcener. That is one branch of my suggestion.
The other branch of my suggestion is the one which Sir Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar made yesterday that a woman should have full right to alienate her property and this fiction of a Hindu widow’s status must be done away with. With regard to that I would ask the indulgence of the House for two minutes. All my friends who are opposing the Bill say “we want to go to the Shastra ”. We don’t want to go beyond the Shastras, particularly the Mitakshara which was followed by the country. With the exception of Bengal the whole country has followed it. What was the law of Mitakshara on this point ? I would ask you to look to Vijnaneshwar, Chapter II, Section 11 verses 2 and 4 of his commentary on Yagnavalkya as to what is a woman’s stridhan. After quoting certain things, that is whatever is given by way of presents to the woman at the time of marriage—which is not important—he says: “And in addition to that, the stridhan consists