Nagpur Part III: Dhamma Diksha and the City

Tuesday morning I returned to the political tent for more programs. They gave me a seat on the stage, and announced my name during the speeches, which was about all I understood, since they spoke in Marathi (the official language of Maharashtra) and Hindi. I’ve only taken two Marathi lessons so far. After the speeches they served lunch to the people attending, and I was pleased and delighted to be asked to help serve the food. I’m eating lunch with a bhikku and a bhikkuni (a Buddhist monk and a nun), Prabattya, and the mother of the organization president.

After eating, more photos and English/Hindi practice occurred. This photo captures three generations of the family: Lakhan, Vachalavbai, and Prakash.

In the afternoon Prabhattya took me to the memorial stupa which was built on the site where Dr. Ambedkar took dhamma diksha, his conversion to Buddhism and the beginning of the Dalit neo-Buddhist movement. I was told that the day before–the anniversary celebration–would be too crowded, but my single regret about this trip to Nagpur was that I couldn’t be there on the actual day. Outside, statues of Ambedkar and the Buddha were set up, alongside a list of the 22 vows that Dr. Ambedkar added to the Buddhist conversion ceremony.

Sightseeing followed. I visited the Ambedkar statue at the Reserve Bank, which has relief artwork depicting the Mahad water tank satyagraha, or non-violent resistance. Dalits were not permitted to take water here. It also showed the presentation of the Constitution of India; Ambedkar chaired the Constitution drafting committee.












Next I visited Zero Mile. Nagpur is the geographical centre of India, as well as being the orange city.

We also visited the cremation grounds in Nagpur; this statue shows Ardhani, a combination of the god Shiva and his consort Parvati.


Finally, we went to an important masjid, or mosque, for puja. The ceiling of the masjid’s porch was tiled in thousands of small mirrors. Once I took a photo of these three girls, they kept trying to sneak into all of my photos! From the masjid I went straight to the hotel to collect my bags, then straight to the bus pickup for the 16 hour trip back to Pune. Or... almost straight there; the autorickshaw broke down on the way, so I had to wait while the rickshawwalla stopped to repair it!