Negotiating Boundaries Between "Religious" and "Secular" : A Struggle for the Sense of Collectivity Among Ambedkarite Buddhists in Maharashtra

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Authors

MENŠÍKOVÁ Tereza

Year of publication 2023
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Journal of Global Buddhism
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Arts

Citation
Web https://www.globalbuddhism.org/article/view/3840
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.26034/lu.jgb.2023.3840
Keywords Ambedkarite Buddhists; Maharashtra; Dalit communities; B.R. Ambedkar; caste; groupness; collectivity; religion; modernity
Description Since the first mass conversion of Dalits to Buddhism in 1956, followers of B. R. Ambedkar's vision have propagated Buddhism throughout India, creating various activist networks across, but not limited to, Maharashtra. Despite their aspirations for socio-political change and emancipation for marginalized communities experiencing caste discrimination, Ambedkarite Buddhists have faced challenges in mobilization and organization since the demise of Ambedkar. This article addresses the struggle of building a sense of collectivity within the Ambedkarite Buddhist population, offering insights from the perspective of young Ambedkarite Buddhists in Mumbai. The ethnographic study primarily focuses on interpreting the Ambedkarite Buddhist tradition and its position within the broader Buddhist framework and delves into the divergence in efforts to emplace Buddhism on the "religious-secular" spectrum among practitioners. The article aims to provide an interpretation of the challenges faced by the Ambedkarite Buddhists in pursuing a unified front for effecting social change in contemporary India.
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