14TH October The Anniversary of Dr. Ambedkar’s Historic Conversion to Buddhism
This 14th October will be the 51st anniversary of the historic and unique religious conversion of Dr.B.R.Ambedkar to Buddhism. It was indeed a historic event which has no parallel in the history of the world as far as religion and change of faith is concerned. On a single day, Dr.Ambedkar’s 500,000 followers embraced Buddhism following in the footsteps of their leader. No religious leader, preacher has ever been successful in convincing so many people on a single occasion to change religious faith. This happened 51 years ago. Further it set the ball rolling for the Buddhist movement in India. It was the homecoming for Buddhism back to the country of its birth in the true sense.
This conversion ceremony was conducted at the place which is now called as “Deeksha Bhoomi” in the heart of Nagpur. It is spread over an area of 14 acres. A large stupa is constructed at Deeksha Bhoomi as a memorial to Dr. Ambedkar’s services to the untouchable community in particular and the 70% Shudra population in India. Ever since the conversion ceremony of 14th October 1956, the Deeksha Bhoomi has become a pilgrimage for the newly convert Buddhists. It has become a rallying point a place to show their strength. Every year more than 2 million people assemble at Deeksha Bhoomi. In the early years, it is only the people from all over Maharashtra used to visit Deeksha Bhoomi. Now it has taken a national outlook. People from all states visit this historic place.
Deeksha Bhoomi holds more than 1000 stalls of book sellers, sellers of Dr.Ambedkar’s photos, Buddha’s photos, statues. Most of the SC/ST office employee organization put up their stalls and provide services of different nature to make the 2 day stay of the visiting rural people as comfortable as possible. Many a stalls are put up to provide guidance and advise to the needy people in terms of their health needs, their career needs. Then there are numerous food stalls providing free food to the people who travel with minimum resources. Doctors, from the Ambedkarite community, put up 5-6 stalls, not just to provide on the spot medical services, but provide check ups through specialist services. Hence people look forward to 14th October, for receiving specialist services free of cost. It is indeed a place for a researcher, an observer, an analyzer to visit and convince himself/herself the vitality and vibrancy of Dr.Ambedkar’s movement. The event passes very peacefully without any need for patrolling by police. This is yet another feature of this event.
Why did Dr.Ambedkar select Nagpur for this historic conversion to Buddhism? Nagpur and its surrounding area has always been a stronghold of Dr. Ambedkar’s movement. Whenever Dr. Ambedkar looked for strength, he always looked towards Nagpur. Hence to make his religious conversion to Buddhism as successful event, the choice obviously fell for Nagpur as Dr. Ambedkar knew that he could easily show a strong strength for conversion at Nagpur. Conversion to Buddhism was a commitment which Dr.Ambedkar made 21 years ago, in 1935, when he declared at Yeola that “He was born as a Hindu, which he had no control on, but he will not die as a Hindu”. On 14th October 1956, Dr. Ambedkar fulfilled his long standing vow. The question, people do raise, “Why Dr. Ambedkar did took so long to fulfill this vow of converting from Hinduism?” Dr. Ambedkar basically wanted to make this leaving Hinduism a mass activity and not just a personal activity. As a personal activity, it would have been easy for Dr. Ambedkar; but for the religious conversion a successful mass conversion, he needed to study different religions, make their comparison. Also study these religions as to what are its basic tenets as well as its current practice. To convince himself before Dr. Ambedkar embraced Buddhism, he undertook journey to neighboring Buddhist countries like Sri Lanka, Myanmar etc. He even made a visit to Rome to discuss the pros and cons of conversion to Christianity. So his conversion to Buddhism was a well-thought-of act. As he says, “
"------Question of religion is the most difficult and a very serious question. It is a matter of enormous responsibility, really to educate the people in regard to the merits of this religion and to inculcate in the people the habit of behaving according to the principles of the Dhamma. There is no other person who had to shoulder so grave a responsibility, nor do I think will anybody be called upon to shoulder such a heavy responsibility in future.”
Then one of the salient aspects of Dr.Ambedkar’s scheme of conversion to Buddhism was to write a bible like concise book for the people to follow. Just few days prior to his death, Dr.Ambedkar did fulfil this requirement by completing his magnus opem, “Buddha and His Dhamma”. This book indeed provided a much needed relief and clarity to the people to follow Buddha’s Dhamma. Over 2500 years of its history, Buddhism was spread into different cultures of world. Hence Buddhist principles, its beliefs, and practises have undergone changes which varied from place to place. Dr.Ambedkar has the tremendous task to find out what is the local culture superimposed on Buddhist principles and what are the actual tenets of Buddhism. He then reviewed and accepted for his people and for himself the original principles/philosophy of Buddhism without the rituals; so much so that the traditional Buddhists took it as yet another school of thought of Buddhism as propounded by Dr.Ambedkar – something close to Dr.Ambedkar’s Buddhism.
http://www.ambedkartimes.com/raju_kamble.htm
This 14th October will be the 51st anniversary of the historic and unique religious conversion of Dr.B.R.Ambedkar to Buddhism. It was indeed a historic event which has no parallel in the history of the world as far as religion and change of faith is concerned. On a single day, Dr.Ambedkar’s 500,000 followers embraced Buddhism following in the footsteps of their leader. No religious leader, preacher has ever been successful in convincing so many people on a single occasion to change religious faith. This happened 51 years ago. Further it set the ball rolling for the Buddhist movement in India. It was the homecoming for Buddhism back to the country of its birth in the true sense.
Deeksha Bhoomi holds more than 1000 stalls of book sellers, sellers of Dr.Ambedkar’s photos, Buddha’s photos, statues. Most of the SC/ST office employee organization put up their stalls and provide services of different nature to make the 2 day stay of the visiting rural people as comfortable as possible. Many a stalls are put up to provide guidance and advise to the needy people in terms of their health needs, their career needs. Then there are numerous food stalls providing free food to the people who travel with minimum resources. Doctors, from the Ambedkarite community, put up 5-6 stalls, not just to provide on the spot medical services, but provide check ups through specialist services. Hence people look forward to 14th October, for receiving specialist services free of cost. It is indeed a place for a researcher, an observer, an analyzer to visit and convince himself/herself the vitality and vibrancy of Dr.Ambedkar’s movement. The event passes very peacefully without any need for patrolling by police. This is yet another feature of this event.
Why did Dr.Ambedkar select Nagpur for this historic conversion to Buddhism? Nagpur and its surrounding area has always been a stronghold of Dr. Ambedkar’s movement. Whenever Dr. Ambedkar looked for strength, he always looked towards Nagpur. Hence to make his religious conversion to Buddhism as successful event, the choice obviously fell for Nagpur as Dr. Ambedkar knew that he could easily show a strong strength for conversion at Nagpur. Conversion to Buddhism was a commitment which Dr.Ambedkar made 21 years ago, in 1935, when he declared at Yeola that “He was born as a Hindu, which he had no control on, but he will not die as a Hindu”. On 14th October 1956, Dr. Ambedkar fulfilled his long standing vow. The question, people do raise, “Why Dr. Ambedkar did took so long to fulfill this vow of converting from Hinduism?” Dr. Ambedkar basically wanted to make this leaving Hinduism a mass activity and not just a personal activity. As a personal activity, it would have been easy for Dr. Ambedkar; but for the religious conversion a successful mass conversion, he needed to study different religions, make their comparison. Also study these religions as to what are its basic tenets as well as its current practice. To convince himself before Dr. Ambedkar embraced Buddhism, he undertook journey to neighboring Buddhist countries like Sri Lanka, Myanmar etc. He even made a visit to Rome to discuss the pros and cons of conversion to Christianity. So his conversion to Buddhism was a well-thought-of act. As he says, “
"------Question of religion is the most difficult and a very serious question. It is a matter of enormous responsibility, really to educate the people in regard to the merits of this religion and to inculcate in the people the habit of behaving according to the principles of the Dhamma. There is no other person who had to shoulder so grave a responsibility, nor do I think will anybody be called upon to shoulder such a heavy responsibility in future.”
Then one of the salient aspects of Dr.Ambedkar’s scheme of conversion to Buddhism was to write a bible like concise book for the people to follow. Just few days prior to his death, Dr.Ambedkar did fulfil this requirement by completing his magnus opem, “Buddha and His Dhamma”. This book indeed provided a much needed relief and clarity to the people to follow Buddha’s Dhamma. Over 2500 years of its history, Buddhism was spread into different cultures of world. Hence Buddhist principles, its beliefs, and practises have undergone changes which varied from place to place. Dr.Ambedkar has the tremendous task to find out what is the local culture superimposed on Buddhist principles and what are the actual tenets of Buddhism. He then reviewed and accepted for his people and for himself the original principles/philosophy of Buddhism without the rituals; so much so that the traditional Buddhists took it as yet another school of thought of Buddhism as propounded by Dr.Ambedkar – something close to Dr.Ambedkar’s Buddhism.
http://www.ambedkartimes.com/raju_kamble.htm
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