Marathi Buddhists

Marathi Buddhists (मराठी बौद्ध; Marāṭhī Baud'dha) are Buddhists of Marathi ethnic and linguistic identity. The religious community resides in the Indian state of Maharashtra. They speak Marathi as their mother-tongue (first language). The Marathi Buddhist community is the largest Buddhist community in India. According to the 2011 Indian census, Marathi Buddhists constitute 5.81% of the population in Maharashtra, which is 77% of the total Buddhist population in India.[2]

Marathi Buddhists
मराठी बौद्ध (Marathi Bauddha)
Deekshabhoomi monument, located in Nagpur, Maharashtra, where B. R. Ambedkar converted to Buddhism in 1956, is the largest stupa in Asia.[1]
Total population
 India 6,531,200 (2011)
Regions with significant populations
Maharashtra
Languages
Marathi
Religion
Buddhism
Related ethnic groups
Mahars • Marathi people

History
Ambedkar delivering speech during conversion, Nagpur, 14 October 1956

Almost all Marathi Buddhists belong to the Navayana tradition, a 20th-century Buddhist revival movement in India that received its most substantial impetus from B. R. Ambedkar who called for the conversion of Dalits to Buddhism to escape a caste-based society that considered them to be the lowest in the hierarchy.[3]

B. R. Ambedkar publicly converted on 14 October 1956, at Deekshabhoomi, Nagpur, over 20 years after he declared his intent to convert. He converted approximately 600,000 people to Buddhism.[4] The conversion ceremony was attended by Medharathi, his main disciple Bhoj Dev Mudit, and Mahastvir Bodhanand's Sri Lankan successor, Bhante Pragyanand.[5] Ambedkar asked Dalits not to get entangled in the existing branches of Buddhism (Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana), and called his version Navayana or 'Neo-Buddhism'. Ambedkar would die less than two months later, just after finishing his definitive work on Buddhism. Many Buddhists employ the term "Ambedkarite Buddhism" to designate the Buddhist movement, which started with Ambedkar's conversion.[5] Converted people call themselves "-Bauddha" i.e. Buddhists.

Population
District wise Buddhist population percentage, India census 2011. India's West-centre area, Maharashtra shows Marathi Buddhist population.

Almost all Marathi Buddhists are converts from Hinduism. Most Buddhist Marathi people belong to the former Mahar community who adopted Buddhism with Ambedkar in 1956.[6][7]

In the 1951 census of India, In Maharashtra, 2,487 (0.01%) respondents said they were Buddhist. The 1961 census, taken after B. R. Ambedkar adopted Navayana Buddhism with his millions of followers in 1956, showed an increased to 27,89,501 (7.05%).[8]

Marathi Buddhists account for 77.36% of all Buddhists in India.[2] According to the 2011 Census of India there are 6.5 million Buddhists in Maharashtra but Buddhist leaders claim there are about 10 to 12 million Buddhists in Maharashtra. Almost 90 per cent of Navayana or Ambedkarite Buddhists live in the state.[9] 5,204,284 (79.68%) Marathi Buddhists belong to the Scheduled Caste category.[10]

Notable Marathi Buddhists

Business

Law and Justice

Literature and activism

Acting and Music

Politics

Scientists in various fields

Culture
Marathi Buddhists are celebrating 62nd Dhammachakra Pravartan Din at Aurangabad Caves area in Aurangabad, Maharashtra on 18 October 2018.

Festivals

See also

References
  1. Bhagwat, Ramu (19 December 2001). "Ambedkar memorial set up at Deekshabhoomi". Times of India. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
  2. "Population by religion community – 2011". Census of India, 2011. The Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Archived from the original on 25 August 2015.
  3. Thomas Pantham; Vrajendra Raj Mehta; Vrajendra Raj Mehta (2006). Political Ideas in Modern India: thematic explorations. Sage Publications. p. 48. ISBN 0-7619-3420-0.
  4. Robert E. Buswell Jr.; Donald S. Lopez Jr. (2013). The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton University Press. p. 34. ISBN 978-1-4008-4805-8.
  5. Bellwinkel-Schempp, Maren (2004). "Roots of Ambedkar Buddhism in Kanpur" (PDF). In Jondhale, Surendra; Beltz, Johannes (eds.). Reconstructing the World: B.R. Ambedkar and Buddhism in India (PDF). New Delhi: Oxford University Press. pp. 221–244. Archived from the original on 1 August 2012.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  6. Jaffrelot, Christophe (2005). "The 'Solution' of Conversion". Dr Ambedkar and Untouchability: Analysing and Fighting Caste. Orient Blackswan Publisher. pp. 119–131. ISBN 8178241560.
  7. Zelliot, Eleanor (1978). "Religion and Legitimation in the Mahar Movement". In Smith, Bardwell L. (ed.). Religion and the Legitimation of Power in South Asia. Leiden: Brill. pp. 88–90. ISBN 9004056742.
  8. Kantowsky, Detlef (1997). Buddhisten in Indien heute, Indica et Tibetica 30, 111
  9. "INDIA Indian Buddhists reject religious census". m.asianews.it.
  10. "बौद्ध बढ़े, चुनावी चर्चे में चढ़े". aajtak.intoday.in (in Hindi). Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  11. Pronoti, Datta (29 May 2010). "Caste No Bar". The Crest Mumbai. Archived from the original on 16 January 2018. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  12. "Kalpana – Symbol of true grit". The Hans India. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  13. Sikka, Sonia; Puri, Bindu; Beaman, Lori G. (2015-08-11). Living with Religious Diversity. Routledge. ISBN 9781317370987.
  14. https://www.thenational.ae/world/india-s-hindu-nationalist-group-pins-high-hopes-on-modi-victory-1.242382
  15. https://www.bbc.com/marathi/india-43620153
  16. https://divyamarathi.bhaskar.com/news/MAG-samir-paranjape-rasik-article-in-marathi-5473432-NOR.html
  17. https://divyamarathi.bhaskar.com/news/23-ministers-belong-to-the-maratha-community-in-thackeray-government-126408482.html
  18. https://divyamarathi.bhaskar.com/news/23-ministers-belong-to-the-maratha-community-in-thackeray-government-126408482.html
  19. https://divyamarathi.bhaskar.com/news/23-ministers-belong-to-the-maratha-community-in-thackeray-government-126408482.html
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