| Summary: | 博士 === 華梵大學 === 東方人文思想研究所 === 103 === A Study on Ambedkar’s Mass Conversion Movement to Buddhism to Elevate the Social Status of Dalits.
There was a revival of Buddhism in India at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries. Anagarika Damarpala, a Ceylonese (Sri Lankan) established the Boda Gaya Society to promote Buddhism. However, it would be in southern India under Pandit Iyothee Thass and E.V. Pamasmy that early Dalit Buddhism would have its greatest impact. B.R. Ambedkar, who himself was born a Dalit untouchable, would lead the largest Buddhist movement in modern India. Over a period of several decades, he considered a mass conversion of Dalits to various religions, including Islam, Christianity, Jainism and Sikhism. He decided upon a largely supernatural-free version of Buddhism.
In his book, Buddha and His Dharma, Ambedkar portrays Buddha as a social reformer who was dedicated to abolishing the inequality that he thought was inherent in Hinduism. Dalit Buddhism has had its greatest impact in Ambedkar’s home province of Maharashtra. Emulating the American Black Panthers, the Dalit Panthers, who were Ambedkar Buddhists, attracted considerable attention in Mumbai. In their manifesto, the Dalit Panthers proposed that they lead “a tidal wave of revolution” against the Hindu feudal establishment. They were supported by the blossoming of a Dalit literary movement in Maharashtra province as well. In the twenty-first century, the Dalit Buddhist movement in Maharashtra is still active. On May 27, 2007, tens of thousands of Dalits from Maharashtra gathered at the Mahalakshmi race course in Mumbai to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the conversion of Ambedkar to Buddhism. The event was criticized by Hindu groups as provocative.
During thus author’s excursion to India in 2011, surveys on the devotional practices and religious beliefs of Dalit Buddhists, as well as a survey on discrimination, were conducted. The respondents ranged in age from their 20s to 70s, and they were a social cross section from the barely educate to PhDs who universally rejected Hindu worship. Many of the respondents reported that they had spent considerable amounts of time attempting to propagate and spread the Dhamma. There was division in their belief systems. Some respondents suggested that they considered Ambedkar equal to Buddha, while others viewed the relationship as that between teacher and pupil. Not all of the respondents accepted Ambedkar’s rejection of reincarnation. A surprisingly large number of survey respondents living in the city of Mumbai reported a lack of discrimination. Other Mumbai residents noted discrimination in employment and eating accommodations. Far worse discrimination was reported in the countryside. Some of the Dalit Buddhist organizations are doing important work in attempting to improve the status of Dalits in rural India.
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