October 14, 1956

Dalit Buddhist movement

B. R. Ambedkar leads a mass conversion to Buddhism at Nagpur

Ambedkar brought 22 vows of his own to the ceremony, turning a religious initiation into an explicit rejection of caste hierarchy.

Deekshabhoomi, 14 October 1956

At Deekshabhoomi in Nagpur on 14 October 1956, B. R. Ambedkar and his wife received Buddhist initiation from the monk Mahasthavir Chandramani, reciting the Three Refuges and Five Precepts in Pali.

The order matters: the elderly Burmese-born monk from Kushinagar initiated the couple first, and only afterwards did the mass phase begin, with people wishing to convert reciting the Three Refuges three times.

Ambedkar had set it up in advance, writing to Chandramani on 24 September that he and his wife had decided to embrace Buddhism at Nagpur on 14 October.

Twenty-two vows

After the initiation, Ambedkar and his wife took 22 vows. The contemporary account cited by India's Supreme Court says he apparently prepared them himself.

The ceremony publicly moved a very large body of his followers out of Hindu identification and into Buddhism.

Testimony later reviewed by the Supreme Court indicates that conversion activity continued after 14 October.

Five lakh, or six hundred thousand

The crowd and conversion totals are estimates, not registrations. The proceeding cited by the Supreme Court describes about five lakh people; a government memorial puts the number who followed Ambedkar in conversion at 600,000.

Attendance and completed conversion are not the same category, so "exactly 500,000 converts" should not be presented as settled.

Accounts also merge two days: the initiation on the 14th and Ambedkar's major explanatory address, delivered on the 15th.

Sources

Researched 24 Aug 2026 7 sources not yet audited

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What the sources leave uncertain

The date, place and central ritual are well established, but the crowd and conversion totals are estimates.
Sources variously report about 500,000 attendees, around 500,000 converts, or 600,000 followers. Attendance and completed conversion are not necessarily identical categories, so “exactly 500,000 converts” should not be presented as settled.
Accounts sometimes merge the October 14 initiation with Ambedkar’s major explanatory address delivered on October 15.