336 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
Forgery in the Vedas
Dr. Ambedkar analysing some of the aspects of the Vedas by citing certain examples said that certain portions were a ‘forgery’ which were introduced at later stage. They did it because they wanted some kind of sacred sanction for their theory. That to his mind was the only reason why the Brahmins had insisted upon so un-rationalistic an approach to social theories. The struggle between Buddhism and Brahminism was for supremacy. When Buddhism evaporated, they lost tremendously. Buddha was the first person to preach the message of liberty, equality, fraternity in the history of the world. They had lost because the revolution was so overwhelmed by the counter-revolution. They has also lost the spirit of rationalism, and that was the reason why the whole of the Hindu Society was in grossest superstition ; idolatory and all sorts of evil practices, which were practised in the name of the religion. Buddha’s rationalistic approach to truth had been lost. Today they were in the grip of counterrevolutionaries. The gospel of the counter-revolutionaries is the Bhagvat Geeta and Manu Smruti.
The tragedy of today is that the non-rationalistic ideology has even entered politics. Political leaders are on trial in every country. But what is the solution in India ? Mr. Gandhi is never on trial (laughter). Has he been on trial ? No. If he says something, everybody must accept it as though it is from the Vedas. If he says the opposite, we have got to accept it. Two years ago Mr. Gandhi said Pakistan was a sin. Congressmen said it was a sin. I have also written a book on Pakistan and I was called as one whose intelligence has been mortgaged to the Muslim League and prostituted .......... and all that. Today Mr. Gandhi says Pakistan is not a sin. This is only one illustration of irrationalism-which has not entered only our social and intellectual but also political thought.
I am sure unless we do something very quickly, we may bring greater disaster to this country ...............” [1]
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1 : The Liberator, Madras, dated 25-9-1944.