1050 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
bring the divine Ganges and Yamuna to the plains as Bhagirath did ? I congratulate him on his courage. We also want to help him and not impede his efforts. I want to say that things should be done at an appropriate time and by suitable methods. I do not say that Hon. Pandit Kunzru wants to deprive the Hindu Shastras of their sanctity and importance but at the same time I do not like that we should drift towards materialism and see things only from the point of view of our convenience. We do not want to make his law only to prove its ineffectiveness in the long run. Our Hindu Shastras have also been amended. Today they call Dr. Ambedkar as Manu, Shri Gadgil is called Yagnavalkya and Shri Gadgil can give any such name to Shri Naziruddin Ahmad also.
Shri Syamnandan Sahaya (Bihar) : Call him Narad.
Shri Bhatt : It is difficult to say today whether we have made any progress or have gone back. I would say that from the point of view of food, clothing and living, we have the same standard which our ancestors had during the Mughal period. Is our standard of living the same as obtained 150 years back ? Do we have the same facilities which we had thirty years back ? Applying this standard, we can not say that we have progressed. Can we say that we have made progress simply because we have passed more laws ? Or shall we say we have progressed as we have become more healthy and courageous and have become true Aryans ? This is a difficult question ; I cannot answer it nor have I the time to do so. It is a new subject and I do not want to go into its different aspects. I shall try to confine my remarks only to my amendments and clause 2. Our Smritis and Shastras have kept changing according to times. I agree with the Hon. Minister in that we have our Dharma Shastras. Shri Maitra may interprete them in one way. Shri Gadgil in another ; Dr. Ambedkar may ex-pound them in his own way and my interpretation may be different from those of all these gentlemen, though I am not a scholar of Shastras; all I want to say is that our religion, our Smritis and our Shastras are eternal. Changes have taken place in them and new things have been incorporated in them at times changed. They change with time and place and never lag behind. Without showing disrespect to the scriptures of any other religion or community I want to say that the Hindu Shastras and tradition live to this day ; that is why Hinduism has kept place with time. It is in that sense that I consider them as eternal.
Pandit Malaviya : After the code has been passed it will not remain so.