A growing, non-finite canon means smriti texts cannot all be authentic

Evidence

The Vedas, Upanishads, smritis and puranas, including the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, are the Hindu scriptures. Nor is this a finite list. Every age or even generation has added to the list. It follows, therefore, that everything printed or even found handwritten is not scripture. The smritis, for instance, contain much that can never be accepted as the word of God. Thus many of the texts that Dr Ambedkar quotes from the smritis cannot be accepted as authentic. The scriptures, properly so called, can only be concerned with eternal verities and must appeal to any conscience, i.e., any heart whose eyes of understanding are opened. Nothing can be accepted as the word of God which cannot be tested by reason or be capable of being spiritually experienced. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 1201

Categorization

• DEFINE: Gandhi’s test of scriptural authenticity: only texts about eternal verities, testable by reason and spiritual experience, count as scripture.
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: Gandhi’s canon criterion is strikingly rationalist (reason-testable) for a figure often framed as mystical — how does he reconcile this with his elsewhere-absolute stance on the Gita?