B. R. Ambedkar and the Neo-Buddhist Movement in India

Abstract

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891-1.956) was born among the Mahars, an Untouchable community in Maharashtra. Educated in India, the United States, and Great Britain, he became politicized at an early age and fought for revision and abolition of the caste system in India. His life-long struggle for the equality of all peoples is mirrored in his philosophy. Ambedkar believed that casteism and Hinduism, with their emphasis upon the status given by birth, destroyed all principles of freedom and dignity in man. He advocated instead a religion of communal ethics and social change, and to this end embraced Buddhism a few months before his death. His "conversion" began what is now known as the Neo-Buddhist movement, active in local temples and religious media, as well as through such political organizations as the Republican Party.