I hope everyone one now knows who Dr.B.R.Ambedkar was. At one end there are his followers - the people who accepted Buddhism along with Dr. Ambedkar and on the other end there are people who curse him or hate him. 

• Why did Dr. Ambedkar choose Buddhism ?

To get the correct answer we have to do a little study.

Dr. Bhimrao Ramji ambedkar was born in an era when Caste Discrimination was at the extreme peak level. People were treated as animals. Only Bramhins ruled the people of INDIA by applying the laws of manusmruti on the people and i will mention some of them for you.

While taking education during childhood or while doing jobs in INDIA Dr. Ambedkar faced lot of caste discrimination. It was the time when Untouchables were asked to hang a pot along their neck so that they do not spit on the ground and a broom tied behind their back so that wherever that person walks the broom cleans it.He was very sad about that and decided to stand against Bramhins who apply the law of Manusmriti  creating inequality and injustice among people.

What is Manusmriti ?

It is a sacred book of Hindus where the Bramhin scholars have mentioned laws to be followed by the society. They have divided people into four different Varna's [Castes] and implemented Laws according to the individual Caste.

Some Laws of Manusmriti

• A hundred year old kshatriya should treat a 10 year old Bramhin boy as as his father.
• A Shudra ( Lower caste people ) is unfit to receive education .The upper Varnas should not impart education to Shudras or give advice to a Shudra. It is not necessary for a Shudra to know the laws of Manusmriti.
• A Shudra {lower caste people) cannot accumulate wealth,a shudra who acquires wealth gives pain to a Bramhin and so the Bramhin can capture the Shudras land and wealth.
• Bramha( The god as per Bramhins ) had intended from eternity that the Untouchables should be born slaves, live as slaves and die as slaves.

There are many such laws mentioned which demolish humanity. Dr. Ambedkar protested against  Bramhins to eradicate this laws and free his people from this  MANU laws and hence Dr. Ambedkar and his followers together did a common burning of this book and expressed their message to the dalits to stand up against this laws applied by Bramhins.

Dr. Ambedkar was never against Hinduism, he just wanted to give equal rights for his people. Bramhins didn't allow Shudra's  to enter Hindu temples for which Dr. Ambedkar and his followers tried to protest but did not succeed.This itself shows that Dr. Ambedkar wanted to be a part of Hindu religion but even after fighting hard for many years, the Hindu code of law did not accept the Shudra's as a part of their society, they never gave equal rights to the Shudra's, then let it be in person or political rights ( Read Dr. Ambedkars -POONA PACT ). They just want the Shudra's to be their slaves for ever and so Dr. Ambedkar and his thousands of followers on 14th October 1956  led to a mass conversion to Buddhism in Nagpur city of Maharashtra State, in INDIA .

Dr Ambedkar was fed up of this caste discrimination which does not give equal rights to the people in society and was continuously protesting to get equal rights for his people . He decided that the only way to get out from this caste discrimination is to get out of Hindu religion. For that he studied various religion and in the end choose Buddhism.

He choose Buddhism not because other religion were not good but the reason for accepting Buddhism is because it obeys Democracy and it believes in equality. If you read the book ''The Buddha and his Dhamma''- Dr. Ambedkar, you will get the complete true information about Buddha and his life.

There is much more to write about, but it would be good for readers to read those actual books, as doing so you would be able to understand more about Dr. Ambedkar and Buddhism. 

Please click on this link to check out Dr. Babasahebs Literature.