Marathi Buddhists () are

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

s of Marathi ethnic and

linguistic Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

identity. The religious community resides in the

Indian state India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, for a total of 36 subnational entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into 800 districts and smaller administrative divisions by the respe ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

. They speak

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

as their

mother-tongue A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongue'' refers ...

(first language). The Marathi Buddhist community is the largest Buddhist community in India. According to the 2011 Indian census, Marathi Buddhists constitute 5.81% of the population in Maharashtra, which is 77% of the total Buddhist population in India.

History

Almost all Marathi Buddhists belong to the

Navayana ''Navayāna'' (Devanagari: नवयान, IAST: ''Navayāna'', meaning "New Vehicle"), otherwise known as Navayāna Buddhism, refers to the Engaged Buddhism, socially engaged Buddhist schools, school of Buddhism founded and developed by th ...

tradition, a 20th-century Buddhist revival movement in India that received its most substantial impetus from B. R. Ambedkar who called for the conversion to Buddhism by rejecting the

caste A caste is a Essentialism, fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (en ...

-based society of Hinduism. This was through a socio-religious movement and the term "Navayana" was used to "simplify the present cultural complexities" in other sects of Buddhism. Overall this wasn't a completely new sect culturally and ritually as it borrows most of its traditions from Theravada sect of Sri Lanka. B. R. Ambedkar publicly converted on 14 October 1956, at Deekshabhoomi,

Nagpur Nagpur (; ISO 15919, ISO: ''Nāgapura'') is the second capital and third-largest city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is called the heart of India because of its central geographical location. It is the largest and most populated city i ...

, over 20 years after he declared his intent to convert. He converted approximately 600,000 people to Buddhism. The conversion ceremony was attended by Medharathi, his main disciple Bhoj Dev Mudit, and Mahastvir Bodhanand's Sri Lankan successor, Bhante Pragyanand. Ambedkar asked the oppressed classes not to get entangled in the existing branches of Buddhism (Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana), and called his version

or 'Neo-Buddhism'. Ambedkar would die less than two months later, just after finishing his definitive work on Buddhism. Many Buddhists employ the term "Ambedkarite Buddhism" to designate the Buddhist movement, which started with Ambedkar's conversion. Converted people call themselves "Bauddha" i.e. Buddhists.

Population

Almost all Marathi Buddhists are converts from

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

. Most Buddhist Marathi people belong to the former

Mahar Mahar is one of the Indian caste found largely in the state of Maharashtra and neighbouring areas. Most of the Mahar community followed B. R. Ambedkar in converting to Buddhism in the middle of the 20th century. As of 2017 the Mahar caste w ...

community who adopted Buddhism with Ambedkar in 1956. In the 1951 census of India, In Maharashtra, 2,487 (0.01%) respondents said they were Buddhist. The 1961 census, taken after B. R. Ambedkar adopted Navayana Buddhism with his millions of followers in 1956, showed an increase to 2,789,501 (7.05%). Marathi Buddhists account for 77.36% of all Buddhists in India. According to the 2011 Census of India there are 6.5 million Buddhists in Maharashtra but Buddhist leaders claim there are about 10 to 12 million Buddhists in Maharashtra. Among cities

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

has largest Buddhist population accounting for 4.85% of total Mumbai population. Almost 90 per cent of

Buddhists live in the state. 5,204,284 (79.68%) Marathi Buddhists belong to the Scheduled Caste category.

Notable Marathi Buddhists

* B. R. Ambedkar (1891–1956), jurist, barrister, and first Law and Justice Minister of India * R. D. Bhandare (born 1916), governor of Bihar and Andhra Pradesh * Bhushan Gavai (born 1960), the current and 52nd

Chief Justice of India The chief justice of India (CJI) is the chief judge of the Supreme Court of India and the highest-ranking officer of the Indian judiciary. The Constitution of India grants power to the President of India to appoint, as recommended by the outg ...

* B. C. Kamble (born 1919), jurist and lawyer *

Sanjay Bansode Sanjay Baburao Bansode (born 31 December 1973) is an Indian politician from Nationalist Congress Party, who is the cabinet minister of Maharashtra from 14 July 2023 for sports, youth welfare and ports. He also served as the minister of state fr ...

, state minister of Maharashtra * Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare, Governor of Odisha * B. D. Khobragade, Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha * Mukul Wasnik, Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment * Nashikrao Tirpude, 1st Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra * Raja Dhale (1940–2019), social activist and writer * Namdeo Dhasal (1949 2014), Padma Shri social activist and writer

Culture

Festivals

Buddha Purnima Buddha's Birthday or Buddha Day (also known as Buddha Jayanti, Buddha Purnima, and Buddha Pournami) is a primarily Buddhist festival that is celebrated in most of South, Southeast and East Asia, commemorating the birth of the prince Siddhartha ...

, public holiday in Maharashtra * Babasaheb Ambedkar Jayanti, public holiday in Maharashtra *

Dhammachakra Pravartan Day Dhammachakra Anuvartan Din or Dhammachakra Anuvartan Diwas (translation: '' Dhamma Wheel's Promulgation Day'') is a Buddhist festival in India. This is the day to celebrate the Buddhist acceptance of B. R. Ambedkar and his approximately 3,80 ...

, public holiday in Maharashtra * Ashadha Puja * Magha Puja

References

External links

Indian Buddhist Data from the 1951 census to the 2011 census
{{Buddhism topics Buddhism in Maharashtra Buddhist communities of India Demographics of India * Social groups of Maharashtra