The Neo Buddhist movement is a religious as well as a socio-political movement among Dalits in India which was started by B. R. Ambedkar. It re-interpreted Buddhism and created a new school of Buddhism called Navayana. The movement has sought to be a socially and politically engaged form of Buddhism.
Deekshabhoomi is a sacred monument of Navayana Buddhism located in Nagpur city in the state of Maharashtra in India; where B. R. Ambedkar with approximately 400,000 of his followers– mainly Dalits, several thousand of whom had been converted to Christianity– embraced Buddhism on Ashoka Vijaya Dashami on 14 October 1956. Ambedkar played a significant role in the revival of Buddhism in India, and inspired many such mass conversions to Buddhism.
Lodhikheda is a town and a nagar parishad in Chhindwara district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is famous for its oranges. More than 90 per cent of farmers produce oranges. Cotton is grown in large quantities in the local area.
Buddhism is an ancient Indian religion, which arose in and around the ancient Kingdom of Magadha, and is based on the teachings of Gautama Buddha who was deemed a "Buddha", although Buddhist doctrine holds that there were other Buddhas before him. Buddhism spread outside of Magadha starting in the Buddha's lifetime.
Navayāna, otherwise known as Navayāna Buddhism, refers to the modern re-interpretation of Buddhism founded and developed by the Indian jurist, social reformer, and scholar B. R. Ambedkar; it is otherwise called Neo-Buddhism and Ambedkarite Buddhism.
In religion and spirituality, a pilgrimage is a long journey or search of great moral significance. Sometimes, it is a journey to a sacred place or to a shrine of importance to a person's beliefs and faith. Members of every major religion participate in pilgrimages. A person who makes such a journey is called a pilgrim.
Bhadant Nagarjun Arya Surai Sasai, popularly known as Sasai, is a Japanese-born Indian Buddhist monk who later chose India as his home. He is the president of the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Memorial committee Deekshabhoomi.
Nitin Kashinath Raut is an Indian politician and social activist from Maharashtra. He was a former Cabinet minister in the Uddhav Thackeray ministry, Government of Maharashtra. He is the Working President of the Indian National Congress party Maharashtra and Chairman AICC for SC Department. He was the Cabinet Minister of Employment Guarantee and Water Conservation in the Government of Maharashtra, India until 2014.
Namantar Andolan was a Dalit and Navayana Buddhist movement to change the name of Marathwada University, in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India, to Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar University. It achieved a measure of success in 1994, when the compromise name of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University was accepted. The movement was notable for the violence against Dalits and Navayana Buddhists.
Chaitya Bhoomi is a Buddhist chaitya and the cremation place of B. R. Ambedkar, the chief architect of the Indian Constitution. It is situated besides Dadar Chowpatty (beach), Mumbai. Chaitya Bhoomi is a revered place of pilgrimage for Ambedkar's followers, who visit in millions annually on his death anniversary on 6 December.
Religion in Maharashtra is characterised by the diversity of religious beliefs and practices.
Dr Savita Bhimrao Ambedkar, was an Indian social activist, doctor and the second wife of Babasaheb Ambedkar. Ambedkarites and Buddhists refer to her as Mai or Maisaheb, which stands for 'Mother' in Marathi language.
Marathi Buddhists are Buddhists of Marathi ethnic and linguistic identity. The religious community resides in the Indian state of Maharashtra. They speak Marathi as their mother-tongue. The Marathi Buddhist community is the largest Buddhist community in India. According to the 2011 Indian census, Marathi Buddhists constitute 5.81% of the population in Maharashtra, which is 77% of the total Buddhist population in India.
Gangadhar Vithoba Pantawane was an Indian Marathi language writer, reviewer and Ambedkarite thinker from the state of Maharashtra. He was the follower of B. R. Ambedkar, polymath and the father of the Indian Constitution. He is one of the pioneers of the dalit literary movement in Maharashtra. In 2008, he was elected president of the first Marathi Vishwa Sahitya Sammelan that was held in the United States. His pioneering journal, Asmitadarsh, galvanised generations of Dalit writers and thinkers. In 2018, he was honored with the Padma Shri by the Government of India.
Baudhacharya Shanti Swaroop Baudh was an Indian writer, Buddhist scholar, painter, publisher and Pali language expert. He was an Ambedkarite-Buddhist activist. He was born in 1949 at Old Delhi in a Jatav Dalit family. In 1975, he set up Samyak Prakashan, a publishing house dedicated to Ambedkarite, Navayana Buddhist, Pali literature and Dalit literature. Samyak Prakashan has published over 2000 books many of which have been translated into some 14 different languages including English, Sinhalese, Nepalese, Burmese. He was a board of editors member of Dhamma Darpan and Dalit Dastak magazines. He was Delhi state president of Buddhist Society of India.
Yashwant Bhimrao Ambedkar, also known as Bhaiyasaheb Ambedkar, was an Indian socio-religious activist, newspaper editor, politician, and activist of Ambedkarite Buddhist movement. He was the first and only surviving child of Ramabai Ambedkar and B. R. Ambedkar, Indian polymath, human rights activist, and the first law minister of India. Yashwant devoted his life to Buddhism after the demise of his father and kept pace his father's struggle for social equality. He tried to keep the Ambedkarite community united and also took an active part in the Dalit Buddhist movement.
Students' Day or Student Day is marked on Babasaheb Ambedkar's school entry day, 7 November. On 27 November 2017, the government of Maharashtra declared 7 November "Students' Day".
The Twenty-two vows or twenty-two pledges are the 22 Buddhist vows administered by B. R. Ambedkar, the revivalist of Buddhism in India, to his followers. On converting to Buddhism, Ambedkar made 22 vows, and asked his 400,000 supporters to do the same. After receiving lay ordination, Ambedkar gave dhamma diksha to his followers. This ceremony organised on 14 October 1956 in Nagpur included 22 vows administered to all new converts after Three Jewels and Five Precepts. On 16 October 1956, Ambedkar performed another mass religious conversion ceremony at Chandrapur.
