DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 1055
been used by leading lawyers. But the basis of our society is not only materialism. Our society is based on our ancient Shastras —the Shastras pertaining to agriculture, zoology and sociology. From the point of view of genesis the horse and the ass, belong to the same genus, as all of us are human beings. But human beings differ in different countries. A person likes the same sort of climate and environment in which he has been brought up. The same is the case with other living beings. Take somebody from Hissar to a new place and see the reaction. Take the case of trees for instance. Can a tree from Kashmir thrive in Rajasthan ? Many attempts were made to plant mango trees in Rajasthan but they all failed. After all there is some principle behind it. Land, seed, water and climate, every factor has something to do with it. You can’t plant a tree anywhere. The same is the case with marriages. You can’t marry somebody to anybody. Even for trees one has to consider which tree can be grafted upon another. I don’t want to go into details. My point is that our society is based on certain political, educational, hygienic, eugenic and sexological principles. If you want any proof of this, I will quote a portion of Dr. Bhagwan Das’s long speech which he delivered while presenting his Hindu Marriage Validity Bill. In this speech he quoted many things from the Shastras. Dr. Bhagwan Das said :
“The hygienic and eugenic and sexological principle is that every possible care and caution should be exercised and all possible cleanliness and purity secured in respect of food and marriage and that persons with similarity of tastes and habits and purity of temperament should dine together and marry together so that the individual and racial-health and happiness may be promoted.”
I do not see much in eating and dining. Even before Gandhiji I did not believe in this. But if you ask me to dine with a fish-eater I would ask to be excused. I do not consider him an untouchable, but I have formed a habit. If somebody asks me to marry a certain woman….
Dr. Ambedkar : There are not so many fish that could be supplied to everybody.
Shri Bhatt : I was going through census figures and my friend Shri Sidhva and others may pardon me, when I say that I found from the census that many men marry at the age of 60 even. I, for one, do not want to marry.
I was saying that compulsion cannot be used in regard to our way of life. One’s way of life should be according to one’s own temperament. It will come about after some time, if not today. I am sure that Panditji,