Deekshabhoomi
| Deekshabhoomi | |
|---|---|
| दीक्षाभूमी | |
Deekshabhoomi
|
|
| General information | |
| Type | Religious and historical monument |
| Architectural style | Stupa |
| Location | Nagpur, Maharashtra, India |
| Address | Central Nagpur |
| Coordinates | 21°7′41″N 79°4′1″E / 21.12806°N 79.06694°E |
| Construction started | July 1978 |
| Inaugurated | 18 December 2001 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Sheo Dan Mal, Shashi Sharma |
| Website | |
| www.deekshabhoomi.org/ | |
Deekshabhoomi (Hindi: दीक्षाभूमि, IAST: Dīkṣabhūmī) is a sacred monument of Buddhism located where the architect of the Indian Constitution, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, reverted to Buddhism with approximately 600,000 followers on Ashok Vijaya Dashami on 14 October 1956. Dr. Ambedkar's return to Buddhism is deeply significant for millions of people in India.
Deekshabhoomi is in Nagpur, Maharashtra, a location regarded as a pilgrimage center of Buddhism in India. Millions of pilgrims visit Deekshabhoomi every year, especially on Dhamma Chakra Pravartan Din ("Mass Conversion Ceremony Day") and 14 October, the memorial day when Dr. Ambedkar converted to Buddhism here. Ambedkar's final religious act was to embrace Buddhism. Today, the largest stupa in Asia is erected in his memory at the site.
Deeksha literally means 'act of ordaining' and bhoomi means the 'ground'.Deekshabhoomi means the ground where people got ordained as Buddhist. This religious mass conversion at one place was the first ever of its kind in history. Deekshabhoomi is one of two places of considered to be of great importance in the life of Dr. Ambedkar, the other being Chaitya Bhoomi in Mumbai.
Ambedkar had declared in 1935 that although he was born as a Hindu, he would not die as one, as conversion was the solution to abandon the caste system. After this declaration and having extensively and exhaustively studied the doctrines of all the major world religions, Dr. Ambedkar would choose Buddhism for himself and his followers.
Buddhism was 2,550 years old in 1956, so it was a notable year of celebration for the Buddhist religious world globally and 14 October was the traditional date of conversion of King Ashoka Maurya, the great Indian Buddhist Monarch and the day is celebrated as Ashok Vijaya Dashmi. He selected Nagpur for his conversion ceremony, as he explained in his speech at that occasion, because Nagpur was the homeland of 'Nag' people who embraced Buddhism, supported it with great efforts in its early period, and propagated it throughout India. Ground near the Ramdaspeth area in Nagpur was selected for the ceremony.
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