AHMEDABAD: Nearly a thousand Dalits in Ahmedabad embraced Buddhism on Sunday, in the presence of monks from Asian countries. Followers of Babasaheb Ambedkar chanted "Budham Sharanam Gachchhami, Sangham Sharanam Gachchhami, Dhammam Sharanam Gachchhami" during the ceremony.
A delegation of 20 monks and nuns from Bodh Gaya, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam initiated them into the religion. "We are giving back to India what it gave us — this is a religion for the whole world," observed Bhante Dhammadhari from Thailand.
He, however, said that Buddhist "conversions" were different from those in other religions. "One does not have to give up one's faith. However, in order to lead a purer life, one could imbibe something from Buddhism which stands for friendship, love and peace.We don't ever convert to hurt anyone."
Bhante Mahanama from Bodh Gaya, who is a teacher of Therevada sect of Buddhism, presided over the ceremony." We were here for two days and visited the Akshardham temple to offer our prayers in the memory of those who died there," the senior monk said.
He claimed that in all, over 1,000 persons, mainly Dalits, embraced Buddhism during their three-day tour. When asked as to how did they convince people to change their religion, he said, "We did not ask them to accept Buddhism. They had interest in Buddhism and they wanted to get converted. So we gave them ‘diksha'. It was Ambedkar who had shown them the way."
Ahmedabad-based Bhante Harshabodhi co-ordinated the programme that has been dubbed as the biggest ever conversion programme in the city.