In Nagpur and woke up early enough to hire a cab and head into the city to see Deekshabhoomi where Dr BR Ambedkar converted to Buddhism on October 14, 1956 (I was born a Hindu but I will not die a Hindu) alongwith some 4 lakh people, mostly dalits one would expect. The gates were shut when I arrived but opened soon enough.
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| Deekshabhoomi - Nagpur |
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| The Bodhi tree |
It is a huge dome, a meditation hall like the stupas that Buddhist centres have, a large ground to the left, a meditation hall to the right, a huge Bodhi tree to the right and the vows that Ambedkar took to the right. I walked behind a group of people who came there with a Buddhist monk who sang beautiful verses inside the main hall while they all repeated them.
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| The vows |
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| The Bodhi tree from another angle |
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| The Buddha |
Inside the dome there are pictures of various milestones of Dr BR Ambedkar's life.
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| Another view |
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| View from the ground |
Was just nice to be there in a place so historic. Everything is tacky but there is an innocence and an earnestness to it all which was beautiful.
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