DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 1005
Pandit Malaviya : I want to learn. I want to understand things and what the hon. Member says. I want to know where Pratiloma marriages were allowed in India.
Shri B. K. P. Sinha : You will find in any book on Hindu Laws that Anuloma and Pratiloma marriges were common.
Mr. Deputy Speaker : Anuloma marriages were allowed and not Pratiloma marriages.
Shri B. K. P. Sinha : It was not allowed. The children were known as chandalas but they formed a branch of the Hindu society.
Mr. Deputy Speaker : All that has been settled by Acts of Parliament.
Shri B. K. P. Sinha : There are so many Acts of Parliament in this regard such as the Special Marriage Act of 1872, the Hindu Marriage Validation Act of 1949 allowing marriages between Hindus, Sikhs and Jains and also between different castes and sub-castes then there is the Hindu Marriage (Removal of Disabilities) Act which allows marriage between sub-divisions of the same caste. So these Acts are there and they are of an all-India character and it is open to any Hindu to marry any other Hindu, Sikh or Jain. What we are doing here is simply reenacting the old laws. Dr. Mookerjee asked if the laws are there, why re-enact them here ? I would put it to him that if they are there what crime are we committing by re-enacting them in the Hindu Code ?
Then I come to the second feature; restricting or narrowing the field of prohibition. Under the Hindu Marriage (Removal of Disabilities) Act, is it not true that Sagotra and Sapravara marriages are permitted and that nothing new is introduced in this Code ? This provision is already a part of the Hindu law. In the Hindu society it was only amongst the Brahmins, strictly speaking, that Sagotra marriage was taboo. To the Kshatrias and Vaishyas Gotra had a spiritual or religious significance only. Gotra did not mean to them that they were descended from the same ancestor. Only in the case of the Brahmins the sameness of Gotra meant that they were descended from the same ancestor. In the case of the Shudras Sagotra marriage was always permitted. Whether under the law as it was or as it is, we find that Sagotra marriages were legal and valid and that is only being incorporated in this Code.
Another restriction introduced is that the field of prohibition is being narrowed, in the case of the father’s side to five and in the case of the mother’s side to three generations. So far as the Hindu law and the practice and customs prevalent in this country are concerned there is