Ambedkar and Buddhism
AMBEDKAR’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE REVIVAL OF BUDDHISM
Dr. Ruchi Singh, ruchianoop@yahoo.co.in
Bhimrao Ramjee Ambedkar (14th April 1891 to December 7, 1956), was a great jurist, lawyer, and political leader of modern India. Dr. B.R.Ambedkar was the Chairman of the Drafting Committee, that was constituted by the constituent Assembly to draft the constitution of Independent India. He was the first Law Minister of India.
Ambedkar was born in the Mahar caste, an ‘untouchable’ community of Maharashtra, and had experienced first hand the humiliation and oppression faced by such outcastes. He was therefore vehemently critical of the hypocracies of Brahmanism.
Dr. B.R.Ambedkar declared his firm resolve to change his religion in 1935 at Nasik district in Maharashtra “I was born a Hindu and I had no choice about that. But I will not die a Hindu”.
THE NAGPUR DHAMMA DIKSHA :
Ambedkar had been attracted towards Buddhism since his student days. On further study, he was convinced that the ‘untouchables’ could attain social equality and psychological liberation only through the teachings of Buddha. He undertook a detailed study of the religion and met numerous Buddhist scholars. He was greatly influenced by the writings of P.L.Narasu and other Tamil Buddhists, and also of Mahatma Jotiba Phule, a nineteenth century radical social reformer of Maharashtra. Ambedkar claimed that he had three gurus the Buddha, Kabir and Jotiba Phule. He travelled to Ceylon and Burma to see Buddhism being practised in these countries.
In the World Buddhist Brotherhood held at Rangoon (Burma) in 1954, Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar delivered a historic speech and gave a clarion call: it would be a grave error to suppose that Buddhism disappeared from India without leaving its influence on Indian people and their culture. Dr.Ambedkar had made a meticulous study of all the contemporary world religions for nearly twenty years, after
Dr. Ruchi Singh, ruchianoop@yahoo.co.in
Bhimrao Ramjee Ambedkar (14th April 1891 to December 7, 1956), was a great jurist, lawyer, and political leader of modern India. Dr. B.R.Ambedkar was the Chairman of the Drafting Committee, that was constituted by the constituent Assembly to draft the constitution of Independent India. He was the first Law Minister of India.
Ambedkar was born in the Mahar caste, an ‘untouchable’ community of Maharashtra, and had experienced first hand the humiliation and oppression faced by such outcastes. He was therefore vehemently critical of the hypocracies of Brahmanism.
Dr. B.R.Ambedkar declared his firm resolve to change his religion in 1935 at Nasik district in Maharashtra “I was born a Hindu and I had no choice about that. But I will not die a Hindu”.
THE NAGPUR DHAMMA DIKSHA :
Ambedkar had been attracted towards Buddhism since his student days. On further study, he was convinced that the ‘untouchables’ could attain social equality and psychological liberation only through the teachings of Buddha. He undertook a detailed study of the religion and met numerous Buddhist scholars. He was greatly influenced by the writings of P.L.Narasu and other Tamil Buddhists, and also of Mahatma Jotiba Phule, a nineteenth century radical social reformer of Maharashtra. Ambedkar claimed that he had three gurus the Buddha, Kabir and Jotiba Phule. He travelled to Ceylon and Burma to see Buddhism being practised in these countries.
In the World Buddhist Brotherhood held at Rangoon (Burma) in 1954, Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar delivered a historic speech and gave a clarion call: it would be a grave error to suppose that Buddhism disappeared from India without leaving its influence on Indian people and their culture. Dr.Ambedkar had made a meticulous study of all the contemporary world religions for nearly twenty years, after