Deekshabhoomi

Deekshabhoomi in Nagpur marks the spot where Dr B.R. Ambedkar, together with roughly 400,000 followers, most of them Dalits, converted to Buddhism on 14 October 1956, the day of Ashoka Vijaya Dashami. The name means the ground of ordination. It was the first mass conversion of its kind at a single place, and the site became the first pilgrimage centre of Navayana, or Ambedkarite, Buddhism.

Ambedkar had announced in 1935 that although born a Hindu he would not die one, seeing conversion as a way out of caste, and he chose Buddhism after studying the major religions. Buddhism was reckoned to be 2,550 years old in 1956, which made the year a notable one for Buddhists worldwide. Pilgrims arrive in their millions each year, with the biggest crowds on Dhamma Chakra Pravartan Din and on 14 October. With Chaitya Bhoomi in Mumbai, it is one of the two places most closely tied to Ambedkar's life.