140 CHAPTER SIXIn 1956, Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, the late leader of Maharashtra's out-
caste untouchables, led 600,000 ofhis followers into the Buddhist fold in a
mass conversion. The primary motivation was political, and few of the con-
verts knew anything of the religion they were embracing aside from its not
demeaning their caste. Although India now has far more nominal Buddhists
than it did prior to the conversion, the movement is not likely to spread to
other castes, for it has identified Buddhism as the religion of the untouchables,
which is hardly a selling point in a society that is still caste-conscious. The few
native Indian temples set up in various parts of the country have followed the
example of the Christian missionaries and are engaged primarily in charitable
work. Standards of practice and discipline are quite low.
In 1959, Tibetan Buddhists fleeing the Chinese invasion of their home-
land began to establish themselves in India, both in the north (Dharamsala)
and in the south (Mysore). They have succeeded in establishing monasteries
and are fighting valiantly to preserve their scholastic curriculum, but they are
losing many of their young to the attractions of modern materialism. Bud-
dhists from many other Asian countries have flocked to Buddhist pilgrimage
centers in India, setting up temples representative of their cultures and bring-
ing Buddhist devotionalism back to the land of its origin. It is doubtful, how-
ever, that any of these movements will inspire a large-scale return to Buddhism
among Indians.
Fortunately for Buddhism, it was able to establish firm roots in other coun-
tries long before its demise in India, and in many of those countries it is still
strong. The story of how Buddhism developed from an Indian to a world reli-
gion will be the subject of the remainder of this text.