DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 1253
- HINDU CODE— contd.
* Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava : ( English translation of the Hindi speech ). Sir, an hon. Member has expressed the desire that I should speak in Hindi. In deference to that I wish to express myself through the medium of that language.
As I was submitting yesterday before the House, our customs are of very heterogeneous character. They are so different from one another that a custom considered to be good in one part of the country may be thought of as a very reprehensible one in another. So we should proceed about this Bill very cautiously. Yesterday I mentioned the Kareva form of marriage at which some hon. Members had laughed. This custom is prevalent to a great extent in Punjab and Oudh and it is not a matter of laughing. If you judge it from the point of view of high ideals of Hindu society, it is possible that some of the hon. Members may not like the Kareva form of marriage because according to the ancient standards the wife of the elder brother is to be treated as mother. According to Ramayana when Lakshmana’s mother gave her consent to his going with Rama in his exile, she said :
“ Ramam Dasharatham viddhi, mam viddhi Janakatmajam; Ayodhyamatvim viddhi, gachhtat yathasukham. ”
She asked Lakshmana to look upon Rama as his father and Sita as herself i.e., like his mother, and think that the jungle was Ayodhya. Such was the high ideal of our society. How many young men are prepared to go in exile at the orders of their fathers ? How many men respect an elder brother like a father ? Such behaviour is ideal. As far as the customs prevalent in society are concerned, even our Shashtras have ordained that the younger brother of the husband is Dwivar the second, prospective husband. In many cases the Shastras have permitted men to marry the wives of their elder brothers, after their (brothers) death. There is nothing surprising in that. I am conversant with the customs prevalent in Madras and other States. I toured the whole of India in the capacity of a member of the Age of Consent Committee and enquired into the various customs. That is why I say that we have a number of customs of different character and I need not dwell over their intricacies. One should not inquire the feelings of a sect, the feelings which form the basis of a particular custom. I want to submit that there is no good reason to laugh at this Kareva system of marriage. In fact, many advantages accrue from
*P.D., Vol. XV, Part II, 22nd September 1951, pp. 3072-82.