Buddhism in India

Navayana Buddhism and the Modern Age 263

Moon gives us a ‘picture from below’ of the conversion and its

aftermath. Nagpur, the city of his birth, had many vibrant Mahar

communities and had already begun a journey of ‘cultural trans-

formation’—challenging the performance of Hindu festivals,

beginning the spread of Buddhism. Its youth were militantly

organised, in the uniformed and disciplined Samta Sainik Dal

(League of Soldiers for Equality), and they fought pitched battles

at times with anti-Dalit caste Hindus. It was the Samta Sainik Dal

leader Vasant Godbole who pleaded fervently for Nagpur as the

site for the mass conversion. Nagpur, he argued, was historically

a city with Buddhist connections (the Mahars often described

themselves as descendents of ‘Nagas’), and its people there were

well-prepared for the difficulties of organising such a mass event.

At the last meeting with Ambedkar, Godbole reported that he

had to assure Ambedkar that the ground had been ‘sanctified’

only by Dalit Buddhist monks, and not by the then Brahman

leader of the Mahabodhi society in Nagpur (Moon 2001:

149–51).

In the conversion ceremony itself, Moon worked with the

Samta Sainik Dal to clear the grounds and to ensure Babasaheb’s

security. The fear for attacks on his life due to the hatred of

orthodox Hindus had an ironic point when an old woman with

a basket who wanted to come forward was examined—and

declared innocent. Moon himself ran frantically at the last minute

to find an appropriate chair for Babasaheb to sit on. As an

activist, he was so heavily involved with these technical issues

that he gives little description of the mass emotionalism of the

affair.

Moon’s own emotion was expressed just a few weeks later, when

he describes the train arrival and procession in Nagpur following

Ambedkar’s death:

Thousands of people had thronged to see the urn [with Babasaheb’s

ashes] at Nagpur, and when we emerged from the train, carrying it

with us, a wild shout of lamentation came from this mass of

people....While viewing the funeral pyre in Mumbai I had maintained

a calm and cool manner, keeping the words of the Buddha fixed in my

mind: ‘This body will be destroyed; death is inevitable.’ However,

hearing the cry from the masses in Nagpur, my heart trembled.

Without my becoming aware of it, tears began to fall from my eyes,

and I began to cry along with everyone else.

(1) I will not regard Brahma, Vishnu or Mahadev as gods and

I will not worship them.

(2) I will not regard Ram or Krishna as gods and I will not

worship them.

(3) I will not honour Gauri, Ganpati or any god of Hinduism

and I will not worship them.

(4) I do not believe that god has taken any avatar.

(5) I agree that the propaganda that the Buddha was the

avatar of Vishnu is false and mischievous.

(6) I will not do the ceremony of shraddhapaksh(for the

departed) or pindadan(gifts in honour of the deceased).

(7) I will do no action that is inconsistent with the Dhamma

of Buddhism.

(8) I will have no rituals done by Brahmans.

(9) I regard all human beings as equal.

(10) I will strive for the establishment of equality.

(11) I will depend on the Eightfold Path declared by the

Buddha.

(12) I will follow the 10 vows declared by the Buddha.

(13) I will have compassion for all creatures and will care for

them.

(14) I will not steal.

(15) I will not lie.

(16) I will not follow any addiction.

(17) I will not drink alcohol.

(18) I will carry on my life based on the three principles in the

Buddhist Dhamma of dhyana, shilaand karuna.

(19) I renounce the Hindu religion which has obstructed the

evolution of my former humanity and considered humans

unequal and inferior.

(20) I have understood that this is the true Dhamma.

(21) I consider that I have taken a new birth.

(22) From this time forward I vow that I will behave according

to the Buddha’s teachings.

These were clearly designed both to explicate the teachings of
the Dhamma in simple form and to stress the distinctions from
earlier Brahmanic Hinduism. Ambedkar was acting, in this unique
ceremony, not simply to adopt Buddhism but also to give it a
new shape.

262 Buddhism in India