[Buddha-l] Dalits convert to Buddhism--the event

[jkirk]

http://tinyurl.com/2wn92u from Times of India

Thousands embrace Buddhism
28 May, 2007  Shobhan Saxena/TIMES NEWS NETWORK
 
MUMBAI: In a hugely symbolic gesture that may have a long-term effect on
state and national politics, thousands of tribals and Dalits converted to
Buddhism at a massive gathering here on Sunday, marking the 50th year of Dr
B R Ambedkar's conversion to the religion to escape the rigid Hindu caste
system. 

Though the number of people present at Mahalaxmi Race Course was a little
less than the expected figure of 100,000, it was definitely one of the
biggest mass conversions in modern Indian history. 

In the past few years, thousands of Dalits and tribals have converted to
Buddhism in different parts of the country, a move seen by political
observers as an assertion of their identity that is influencing politics in
a big way. 

At the crack of dawn on Sunday, buses loaded with Dalits and tribals began
to roll into the grounds surrounded by glass-and-steel highrises in the
country's financial hub. On a hot, sweltering summer day, men, women and
children from 42 different castes brought to Mumbai by Dalit writer Laxman
Mane, sat quietly throughout the day waiting for the moment they would be
initiated into Buddhism. By evening, their number had swelled to at least
50,000. 

As the day turned to dusk and speeches by Buddhist leaders like Rahul Bodhi
were wrapped up, thousands of eager hands went up in the air amid loud
Buddhist chants and 'Jai Bhim' slogans, initiating hundreds of new converts
into the Buddhist fold. Organised by Babasaheb Ambedkar Pratishthan, the
rally was just not a simple religious ceremony, it was also a show of
strength by Maharashtra's Dalit leader, Ramdas Athawale, who time and again
is at loggerheads with other leaders in the country to claim Ambedkar's true
legacy. 

Although the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, who was supposed to lead
the "largest religious conversion in modern India", could not make it to the
ceremony, there was a huge gathering of Buddhist monks in their maroon robes
from different parts of India, as well as from other countries. 

And, the absence of the world's best-known Buddhist monk did not dampen the
spirits of the people taking refuge in Buddhism as a symbol of turning their
backs on caste discrimination and oppression. Carrying multi-coloured flags
of the Republican Party of India and Ambedkar's photos, and little Buddha
statues and booklets, the Dalits and tribals waited with great patience as
the event started late in the afternoon and meandered through long sessions
of songs, dances and speeches. 

Oblivious of the political implications of the ceremony, thousands turned
the posh Race Course into a sea of white, waiting for the 'major change' in
their social status. 

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