CHENNAI: Around 150 people from Tamil Nadu, including doctors, engineers and advocates, visited Deekshabhoomi in Maharashtra’s Nagpur in a chartered flight on Tuesday; they will return on Thursday.
Deekshabhoomi is a sacred monument of Navayana Buddhism where BR Ambedkar embraced the faith with around six lakh followers, mainly from scheduled castes, on Ashoka Vijaya Dashami on October 14, 1956.
Hundreds of Buddhists from across India and abroad throng Deekshabhoomi every year from the first week of October ahead of Ashoka Vijaya Dashami. This time, 150 people from Tamil Nadu, comprising doctors, engineers, advocates, retired IAS officers and others, went to the place in a chartered flight from Chennai for the first time, primarily to spread awareness about the monument.
Speaking to TNIE, Dr T Satva, one of the doctors in the team, said, “We consider it as a religious duty to gather at Deekshabhoomi every year. We want to spread awareness about Buddhists gathering in Nagpur for (Ashoka) Vijaya Dashami every year because the Deekshabhoomi visit is not being given as much importance as such events as Kumbh Mela and Hajj.”
Dr C Manoharan, another visitor, said, “We are happy to see so many people from different socioeconomic backgrounds gathered at this place. But we are also saddened to see that Deekshabhoomi lies neglected. We want to spread awareness of how Buddhism is an alternative to Hinduism. Not many are aware of this.”
Dr K Muniyan, another member of the team, said many from his village in Thanjavur expressed a desire to visit Deekshabhoomi, but couldn’t because of poverty.“We, as such, request the governments to provide at least train travel allowance to poor people to visit Deekshabhoomi every year, just like they provide assistance for Hajj and others,” said Dr Muniyan.
Ambedkar connection
Deekshabhoomi is a sacred monument of Navayana Buddhism where BR Ambedkar embraced the faith with around six lakh followers on Ashoka Vijaya Dashami on October 14, 1956