Conversion to Buddhism

In the 1950s, Ambedkar turned his attention to Buddhism and traveled to Sri Lanka to attend a convention of Buddhist scholars and monks. While dedicating a new Buddhist vihara near Pune, Ambedkar announced he was writing a book on Buddhism, and that as soon as it was finished, he planned to make a formal conversion to Buddhism.

In 1955, he founded the Bharatiya Bauddha Mahasabha, or the Buddhist Society of India. He completed The Buddha and His Dhamma in 1956, although it was published posthumously.

Ambedkar organized a formal public ceremony for himself and his supporters in Nagpur on October 14, 1956. Accepting the Three Refuges and Five Precepts from a Buddhist monk, Ambedkar completed his own conversion. He then converted an estimated 380,000 of his supporters. Taking the 22 Vows, Ambedkar and his supporters explicitly condemned and rejected Hinduism and Hindu philosophy. Ambedkar completed his final manuscript, The Buddha or Karl Marx, on December 2, 1956.