In 1935, BR Ambedkar made a promise that he would keep 21 years later. Ambedkar, who was born a Hindu, told a gathering at Yeola in Maharashtra's Nashik district, that he would not die a Hindu. Twenty-one years later, on October 14, 1956, he fulfilled that promise before an enormous crowd in Nagpur. He died just 53 days after that.
But why did the man who helped draft India's Constitution, which abolished untouchability, decide to leave Hinduism? Why did Ambedkar choose Buddhism over other religions, and why did he wait more than two decades after announcing his decision?
The answers are in his experiences of caste discrimination, his struggles to reform Hindu society, and his search for what he said, a religion founded on equality and human dignity. His conversion was not a sudden decision in the final weeks of his life, but the culmination of decades of struggle and intellectual exploration.
Wednesday, October 14, 2026, marks 70 years since Ambedkar embraced Buddhism at Deekshabhoomi in Nagpur, along with lakhs of his followers. The gathering, which some accounts say drew around five lakh people, was one of the largest mass religious conversions in modern Indian history. It came just 53 days before Ambedkar's death on December 6, 1956.
Born into the Mahar community, which was treated as untouchable under the caste system, Ambedkar experienced discrimination since childhood. Despite studying at Columbia University and the London School of Economics, he continued to confront caste prejudice in India. He initially sought equal rights for Dalits within Hindu society through public movements and legal reforms. However, repeated resistance convinced him that caste inequality could not be eliminated without challenging the religious authority that sustained it.
The journey from the public water tank at Mahad to the mass conversion at Nagpur explains why Ambedkar eventually rejected Hinduism and embraced Buddhism.
HOW CASTE DISCRIMINATION PUSHED AMBEDKAR AWAY FROM HINDUISM
One of the defining moments in Ambedkar's struggle came in March 1927, when he led thousands of Dalits to the Chavdar Tank in Mahad, in present-day Maharashtra, to assert their right to draw water from a public source.
Although the local municipality had resolved to open the tank to all communities, several Hindus resisted the move. After Ambedkar and his followers drank water from it, some opponents performed purification rituals, claiming the tank had been polluted.
In December 1927, Ambedkar publicly burned the Manusmriti at Mahad (in Raigad district), rejecting the text he regarded as sanctioning caste hierarchy and the subordination of lower castes.
Three years later, in March 1930, he launched the Kalaram Temple entry movement in Nashik, demanding that Dalits be allowed to worship at the temple. The agitation continued for years, but the resistance reinforced his doubts about reforming Hindu society from within.
By October 1935, Ambedkar had reached a decisive conclusion. Addressing the gathering at Yeola, he announced that he would not die a Hindu.
WHY AMBEDKAR WAITED 21 YEARS TO LEAVE HINDUISM
Ambedkar's declaration at Yeola settled his intention to leave Hinduism, but not the religion he would eventually embrace. In the years that followed, he examined Sikhism, Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. His research was shaped by religious and philosophical questions, as well as concerns about the social and political future of Dalits.
In 1936, Ambedkar was invited by the Jat-Pat Todak Mandal, a Hindu caste-reform organisation in Lahore, to deliver its presidential address. However, the organisers objected to portions of his prepared speech, and the conference was cancelled. Ambedkar published the undelivered address as 'Annihilation of Caste', in which he argued that dismantling caste required challenging the authority of Hindu scriptures that sustained it.
Meanwhile, his political responsibilities grew. After being involved in the independence struggle and social uplift of Dalits, he became independent India's first Law Minister and chaired the Constitution's Drafting Committee. The Constitution abolished untouchability under Article 17, but Ambedkar continued to distinguish legal equality from social transformation on the ground. The latter, he believed, was essential.
WHY AMBEDKAR CHOSE BUDDHISM OVER OTHER RELIGIONS
Ambedkar's eventual choice of Buddhism was based on his understanding of its teachings on morality, equality, compassion and reason. He saw Buddhism as a religion that did not depend on a hereditary caste hierarchy or the authority of a priestly class. He also believed that its emphasis on ethical conduct could provide a foundation for a more equal society.
In the preface to 'The Buddha and His Dhamma', written in 1956 and published posthumously in 1957, Ambedkar explained why he chose Buddhism. "The direct answer to this question is that I regard the Buddha's Dhamma to be the best. No religion can be compared to it," he wrote.
"If a modern man who knows science must have a religion, the only religion he can have is the Religion of the Buddha," he added in the preface.
Ambedkar developed an interpretation of Buddhism that placed social justice and human relationships at its centre. It subsequently became associated with Navayana Buddhism, distinguishing its approach from other established schools of Buddhism.
WHAT HAPPENED AT AMBEDKAR'S NAGPUR CONVERSION
On September 23, 1956, Ambedkar announced that he would formally embrace Buddhism in Nagpur on October 14, coinciding with Vijayadashami. At Deekshabhoomi, the elderly Buddhist monk Bhikkhu Chandramani from Uttar Pradesh administered the Three Refuges and Five Precepts to Ambedkar and his wife, Savita Ambedkar, who was born a Saraswat Brahmin.
Ambedkar then led the assembled followers through the Buddhist initiation and administered 22 vows, marking a collective break with Hindu religious practices.
Among the vows was an explicit rejection of Hindu deities and rituals. The pledges also called for equality, compassion and adherence to Buddhist teachings.
Estimates of attendance vary, but the Supreme Court, in its 1964 judgment in 'Punjab Rao v DP Meshram', recorded an account placing the gathering at approximately five lakh people.
The following day, October 15, Ambedkar addressed his followers and recalled the declaration he had made at Yeola.
"Though I am born as a Hindu, I will not die as a Hindu," he said, according to the English translation published in 'Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar: Writings and Speeches, Volume 17, Part III'.
"I proved it yesterday," he added. Ambedkar also emphasised that people should embrace Buddhism through conviction rather than simply following his example. "I do not want blind followers," he said.
WHY AMBEDKAR WAITED 21 YEARS TO EMBRACE BUDDHISM
Ambedkar died in Delhi on December 6, 1956, aged 65. His health had deteriorated in his final years, but there is no established evidence that he knew his death was only weeks away when he converted to Buddhism.
American historian Eleanor Zelliot, in her 2004 book, 'Ambedkar's World: The Making of Babasaheb and the Dalit Movement', explained why Ambedkar waited 21 years after his 1935 declaration to embrace another religion.
According to Zelliot, the delay was because "...none of the available choices were intellectually and politically suitable to him, and, more importantly, that he had opportunities to work for constitutional change, a method more suited to his abilities than working for a change of heart among caste Hindus or building a religious movement among Untouchables".
By embracing Buddhism in 1956, Ambedkar fulfilled a 21-year-old promise. He also offered millions of Dalits, what he called, a path to the dignity and equality he had spent his life fighting for.
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