B. R. Ambedkar, the Dalit leader and architect of India's constitution, takes refuge in Buddhism at Nagpur with roughly half a million followers, rejecting caste at its root; the Navayana, the new vehicle he proclaims, reads the Buddha's teaching as a gospel of social justice.
Tagged: Buddhist Navayana Secular Buddhism
The Event
- Date
- 1956 (exact)
- Also called
- Deekshabhoomi conversion
- Era
- Modern; Standard periodization of Buddhist history
- Location
- Nagpur; today Maharashtra, India
- Traditions
- Buddhism
- Streams
- Navayana, Secular Buddhism
- Key figures
- B. R. Ambedkar
- Key texts
- The Buddha and His Dhamma (1957)
Primary Sources
- Ambedkar, The Buddha and His Dhamma
Secondary Sources
- Keown, Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2013)
- Harvey, An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices (Cambridge, 2nd ed. 2013)
Provenance: HIST-0434; confidence 0.95; accessed 2026-10-27.
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