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-DR. ABDUL RUFF COLACHAL
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Hindus in Bihar reconvert to Buddhism
When the year 2014 ended with many Muslims and Christians
forcefully embraced Hinduism as part of the Hindutva’s so-called vapsi trend,
the year 2015 has begun with the reverse trend of Hindus leaving Hinduism by
disappointment and embracing Buddhism.
Around 1,700 Hindus in Bihar have embraced Buddhism citing the religion’s
emphasis on unity and no discrimination among its followers.
A district police official said of these, 1,200 belong to Bainkathpur and
Kudarbagha villages in Saran district, about 80 km from Patna, capital of Bihar
state where Buddhism took birth. The conversion took place Saturday and Sunday,
the official added.
According to the official, most of those converted to Buddhism were dalits and
mahadalits, the SCs and STs and have been facing social discrimination in day
to day life from the high caste Hindus who also promote RSS ideology of Hindu
varna or caste system. On Saturday, 500 Hindus embraced Buddhism in the
state’s Gaya district alone. After converting to Buddhism, they said they
have chosen the new religion for its stress on unity and no discrimination
among its followers, the official said.The massive reconversions from Hinduism
to Buddhism would make a big impact on India.
Buddhism is a religion to about 300 million people around the
world. The word comes from 'budhi', 'to awaken'. It has its origins about 2,500
years ago when Siddhartha Gotama, known as the Buddha, was himself awakened
(enlightened) at the age of 35. The workings of the mind are examined with
great precision in these teachings of the Buddha that originated in India over
2000 years back. However the way to freedom lies not in a scholarly study of
these teachings, but instead in practicing meditation and mindfulness. The
reality of suffering draws many to Buddha's teachings; the teachings are not
about suffering though. Instead they are about ultimate freedom, and the
exuberance that this freedom is accessible to all. Strive to be a Buddha, not a
Buddhist!
Since Hindu kings opposed Buddhism threatening the monks,
Buddhism took shelter in other nations, from Sri Lanka, Laddakh to China,
Japan, South East Asian nations.
The decline of Buddhism in India, the land of its birth,
occurred for a variety of reasons and happened even as it continued to flourish
beyond the frontiers of India. Buddhism had seen a steady growth from its
beginnings in the 6th century BCE to its endorsement as state religion of the
Maurya Empire under Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE. During the Maurya Empire,
during which Ashoka banned Vedic sacrifices as contrary to Buddhist
benevolence, Buddhism began its spread outside of its Magadha homeland. It continued
to flourish during the final centuries BCE and the first centuries of the
Common Era, and spread even beyond the Indian subcontinent to Central Asia and
beyond to China. But a steady decline of Buddhism in India set in during the
later Gupta era and under the Pala Empire. By that time, Buddhism had become
especially vulnerable to hostile rulers because it lacked strong roots in
society as most of its adherents were ascetic communities. Buddhism was
virtually extinct in India by the end of the 19th century.
In recent times Buddhism has seen a revival in India due to the
influence of Anagarika Dharmapala, Kripasaran Mahasthavir, B. R. Ambedkar and
Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama.
The revival movement of Buddhism in India underwent a major
change when after publishing a series of books and articles arguing that
Buddhism was the only way for the Untouchables to gain equality, Ambedkar
publicly converted on 14 October 1956 in Nagpur, Maharashtra, which now the
fort of BJP-Siva Sena networks, and then in turn led a mass-conversion ceremony
for over 380,000 Dalits. Many other such mass-conversion ceremonies organised
since and have become a politically charged issue. Since Ambedkar's conversion,
many more people from different castes have converted to Buddhism. Many
converted employ the term "Ambedkarite Buddhism" to designate the
Buddhist movement, which started with Ambedkar's conversion. In order to
contain conversion from Hinduism to Ambedkarite Buddhism, the RSS was
established with HQ in Nagpur.
The frequency of such conversion, however, has been reducing due
to the efforts of Hindu reform movements and gurus who have openly voiced their
support for the untouchable caste. Another reason for the decline of
conversions is the implementation of government’s reservation policy to block
any conversions into other relations in the name of poverty alleviation
programs which have greatly improved the situation of many sections of society,
including the Dalits.
All the reservations giver n to low caste SC and ST people are
meant essentially to stop them from embracing Buddhism or Christianity.
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