386 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
We today think that secret ballot is something which was invented by the British people. That again is a mistake. In Vinay-pitaka there is a definite provision for tellers to count votes. They were called ‘Salpatraka Grahaks’, Salpatraka (bark of tree) was used as ballot paper. There was also a system of secret ballot where the Bhikkhu himself could drop his ‘Salpatraka’ in the ballot box.
I am referring to political matters because it has been said by many historians that wherever advancement they made in other branches of life the Indian people were politically very backward. I deny that proposition.
I admit that we somehow, lost that political genius. We lost all parliamentary institutions and we became subject to the autocratic king. It marked the decline of civilisation and the Indian society has been declining from time to time as all other societies have done.
Why is it that in modern times societies seem to progress continuously without many difficulties except those which wars give rise to ? Why was it not so in the ancient society ?
The difference between ancient society and modern society lies in the fact that in ancient societies law-making was not the function of the people. Law was made by God or by the law-giver. The function of the Society was merely to obey law that was made either by the divine power or the law maker. This was the fundamental reason for ancient societies not having any continuous civilisation.
The true function of law consists in repairing the faults of the society. Unfortunately ancient societies never dared to assume the function of repairing their own defects; consequently they decayed. One of the reasons for the decay of Hindu society is that it was governed by law which had either been made by Manu or Yajnavalkya. Law that has been laid down by these law-makers is divine law. The result was that Hindu society was never able to repair itself.
In Europe after a course of time, jurisdiction of ecclesiastical law was challegned by secular law with the result that today law in the West was purely secular and the jurisdiction of the Church was confined merely to the priest.