Lowest caste Dalits seek salvation in Buddha
At a simple ceremony in northern India last week, more than 230 men and women gathered to renounce their Hindu faith. Chanting vows, the group pledged to live by the teachings of the Buddha. In moments, their passage to Buddhism was complete. With it, they hope, comes an escape to freedom.
The converts were Dalits, the lowest rung of India’s caste hierarchy, formerly known as “untouchables”. The ceremony was an act of protest against the Hindu society that has shunned them, a defiant gesture of self-determination.
“I do not know if our situation will improve after embracing Buddhism but one thing is sure: there will not be any caste discrimination in Buddhism. There is no caste in this religion,” Pawan Kumar, one of their