View source for Navayana

{{Short description|Contemporary Indian branch of Buddhism}}
{{About|the contemporary Indian Buddhist tradition|the book publisher|Navayana (publishing house)}}
{{Copy edit|for=grammar and usage|date=March 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}}
{{Infobox religion
| name = Navayāna
| native_name = नवयान
| type = [[Dharmic religions|Dharmic]]
| founder = [[B. R. Ambedkar]]
| founded_date  = 1956
| founded_place = [[Deekshabhoomi]], [[Nagpur]], India
| image = Buddha Shrine with Ambedkar (244910903).jpg
| caption = A Navayāna Buddhist shrine with [[B. R. Ambedkar|Ambedkar]]'s portrait and ''[[The Buddha and His Dhamma]]'' book. The photograph is on the event of the 50th [[Dhammachakra Pravartan Day]].
| leader_title = 
| leader_name = [[Bodhisattva]] [[Ambedkar]]
| leader_title1 = Type
| leader_name1 = 
| separated_from = 
| members = 7.30 million followers (2011)
| area = [[India]]
}}
{{Buddhism}}
[[File:Young Indian Buddhist monk in Indian monastery.png|thumb|right|Young Indian ''[[samanera]]'' (novice Buddhist monk) in an Indian [[vihara]]. There are statues of [[Gautama Buddha]] and [[B. R. Ambedkar]] depicted as a ''[[bodhisattva]]''.]]

'''''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 the Indian jurist, social reformer, and scholar [[B. R. Ambedkar]];{{efn|Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar is also called Babasaheb Ambedkar.}} it is otherwise called '''Neo-Buddhism''' and '''Ambedkarite Buddhism'''. Rather than a new sect, it is the application of Buddhist principles for the welfare of many.<ref name="Robinson2003p192">{{cite book |author=Tartakov, Gary |year=2003 |editor=Robinson, Rowena |title=Religious Conversion in India: Modes, motivations, and meanings |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-566329-7 |pages=192–213 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eNsoAAAAYAAJ}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Queen, Christopher |year=2015 |editor=Emmanuel, Steven M. |title=A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-119-14466-3 |pages=524–525 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P_lmCgAAQBAJ}}</ref>

B. R. Ambedkar was an Indian lawyer, politician, and [[Buddhist studies|scholar of Buddhism]], and the Drafting Chairman of the [[Constitution of India]]. He was born in an untouchable family during the [[British Raj|colonial era of India]], studied abroad, became a Dalit leader, and announced in 1935 his intent to convert from [[Hinduism]] to a different religion,<ref name="Dirks2011p267">{{cite book |author=Dirks, Nicholas B. |year=2011 |title=Castes of Mind: Colonialism and the making of modern India |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-4094-6 |pages=267–274 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UP7vmkFSJhIC&pg=PA268}}</ref> an endeavor which took him to study all the major religions of the world in depth, namely [[Hinduism]], [[Buddhism]], [[Sikhism]], [[Christianity]], and [[Islam]], for nearly 21 years.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-05-20 |title=Why Ambedkar chose Buddhism over Hinduism, Islam, Christianity |url=https://theprint.in/opinion/why-ambedkar-chose-buddhism-over-hinduism-islam-christianity/237599/ |access-date=2022-06-19 |website=ThePrint |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-04-14 |title=Three reasons why Ambedkar embraced Buddhism |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/research/buddha-purnima-special-three-reasons-why-ambedkar-embraced-buddhism/ |access-date=2022-06-19 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Dirks2011p267"/> The school was otherwise named ''Ambedkarite Buddhism'' after him by people after his death.<ref name="Jacobsen2015p361">{{cite book |first=Eleanor |last=Zelliot |year=2015 |editor-first=Knut A. |editor-last=Jacobsen |title=Routledge Handbook of Contemporary India |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-317-40357-9 |pages=13, 361–370 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tPBWCgAAQBAJ}}</ref> Ambedkar held a conference on 13&nbsp;October 1956, announcing his rejection of Hinduism.<ref name=queen524>{{cite book |author=Queen, Christopher |year=2015 |editor=Emmanuel, Steven M. |title=A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-119-14466-3 |pages=524–529 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P_lmCgAAQBAJ}}</ref> Thereafter, he left Hinduism and [[Conversion to Buddhism|adopted Buddhism as his religious faith]], about six weeks before his death.<ref name="Robinson2003p192"/><ref name="Jacobsen2015p361"/><ref name=queen524/> Its adherents see Navayāna Buddhism not as a sect with radically different ideas, but rather as a new social movement founded on the [[Buddhist ethics|principles of Buddhism]].

In the Buddhist faith, Navayāna is not considered as an independent new branch of Buddhism native to [[India]], distinct from the traditionally recognized branches of [[Theravada|Theravāda]], [[Mahayana|Mahāyāna]], and [[Vajrayana|Vajrayāna]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Omvedt |first=Gail |year=2003 |title=Buddhism in India: Challenging Brahmanism and caste |edition=3rd |place=London, UK; New Delhi, IN; Thousand Oaks, CA |publisher=Sage |pages=2, 3–7, 8, 14–15, 19, 240, 266, 271}}</ref>—considered to be foundational in the Buddhist tradition.<ref name=Keown-Prebish-2013>{{cite book |author1=Keown, Damien |author2=Prebish, Charles S. |title=Encyclopedia of Buddhism |year=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-98588-1 |page=25 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NFpcAgAAQBAJ}}</ref>{{efn|...&nbsp;the Buddhism upon which [Ambedkar] settled and about which he wrote in ''The Buddha and his Dhamma'' was, in many respects, like form of Buddhism that had hitherto arisen within the tradition. Gone, for instance, were the doctrines of ''karma'' and rebirth, the traditional emphasis on renunciation of the world, the practice of meditation, and the experience of enlightenment. Gone too were any teachings that implied the existence of a trans-empirical realm ...&nbsp;. It is misconception that Ambedkar rejected ''[[Four Noble Truths]]'', Ambedkar accepted them and called them higher truths.<ref name=Keown-Prebish-2013/>}} It radically re-interprets what Buddhism is;<ref name=Rich-to-uphold>{{cite book |author=Rich, Bruce |title=To Uphold the World |year=2008 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-670-99946-0 |page=204 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g-RHBJjU6AoC&pg=PA204}}{{full citation needed|date=March 2021|reason=needs year published}}</ref>{{efn|Ambedkar's interpretation of Buddhism was based on Early Buddhism but he was dogmatic in any sense; it took a critical analysis based approach to a number of widely accepted traditional Buddhist teachings.<ref name=Rich-to-uphold/>}} Ambedkar regarded Buddhism to be a better alternative than [[Marxism]] or [[Communism]], taking into account modern problems within Indian society.<ref name="Jacobsen2015p361"/><ref name="KeownPrebish2013p24">{{cite book |author1=Keown, Damien |author2=Prebish, Charles S. |title=Encyclopedia of Buddhism |year=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-98588-1 |pages=24–26 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NFpcAgAAQBAJ}}</ref><ref name=blackburn1/>

While the term ''Navayāna'' is most commonly used in reference to the movement that Ambedkar founded in India, it is also (more rarely) used in a different sense, to refer to [[Buddhism in the West|Westernized forms of Buddhism]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Wiering|first=Jelle|date=2016-07-02|title="Others Think I am Airy-fairy": Practicing Navayana Buddhism in a Dutch Secular Climate|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/14639947.2016.1234751|journal=Contemporary Buddhism|volume=17|issue=2|pages=369–389|doi=10.1080/14639947.2016.1234751|issn=1463-9947|hdl=11370/5bd3579c-fc6d-45f8-8e69-fa081555ff2a|s2cid=151389804 |hdl-access=free}}</ref> Ambedkar didn't call his version of Buddhism ''Navayāna'' or "Neo-Buddhism".<ref>{{cite book |author=Christopher S. Queen |year=2000 |title=Engaged Buddhism in the West |publisher=Wisdom Publications |isbn=978-0-86171-159-8 |page=23 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S7QEAAAAYAAJ}}</ref> His book, ''[[The Buddha and His Dhamma]]'', is considered{{by whom|date=May 2025}} Bible of Buddhism and seems to be an attempt to unite all [[Buddhist schools]]. The followers of Navayāna Buddhism are generally called "Buddhists" (''Bauddha'') as well as ''Ambedkarite Buddhists'', and rarely ''Navayāna Buddhists''.<ref>{{cite book |author=Queen, Christopher |year=2015 |editor=Emmanuel, Steven M. |title=A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-119-14466-3 |pages=524–531 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P_lmCgAAQBAJ}}</ref> Almost 90% of Navayāna Buddhists live in [[Maharashtra]].

== Origins ==
[[File:Buddhist flag of Indian Buddhists.jpg|thumb|right|Buddhist flag of Navayana Buddhists]]
Ambedkar was an Indian leader influential during the colonial era and the early post-independence period of India. He was the fourteenth child in an impoverished Maharashtra Schedule caste family, who studied abroad, returned to India in the 1920s and joined the political movement. His focus was social and political rights for the Depressed class community.<ref name="Buswell2013p34"/> To free his community from religious prejudice, he concluded that they must leave Hinduism and convert to a different religion. He chose Buddhism as the only way to end human sufferings .<ref name="Buswell2013p34">{{cite book |author1=Buswell, Robert E. Jr. |author2=Lopez, Donald S. Jr. |title=The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism |year=2013 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-4805-8 |page=34 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DXN2AAAAQBAJ}}</ref><ref name="KeownPrebish2013p24"/>

== Doctrines and concepts ==
{{see also|Dalit Buddhist movement}}
In 1935, during his disagreements with [[Mahatma Gandhi]], Ambedkar announced his intent to convert from Hinduism to Buddhism.<ref name="Dirks2011p267"/> Over the next two decades, Ambedkar studied Buddhist texts and wrote ''[[The Buddha and His Dhamma]]'' which is considered Bible of  Buddhism.<ref>{{cite book |author=Queen, Christopher |year=2015 |editor=Steven M. Emmanuel |title=A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-119-14466-3 |pages=529–531 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P_lmCgAAQBAJ}}</ref>

== Commencement ==
[[File:Dr. Ambedkar delivering speech during conversion.jpg|thumb|Ambedkar delivering a speech during mass conversion in Nagpur, 14&nbsp;October 1956.]]
Ambedkar re-emphasized Buddhist principles to address modern issues.<ref name="Robinson2003p192"/><ref name="Jacobsen2015p361"/> Navayana ''dhamma'' doctrine as propounded by Ambedkar, states Sumant (2004),<ref name=Sumant-2004/> "does not situate morality in a transcendental [religious] domain", nor in "a civil association, including the state". ''Dhamma'' is derived from and the guiding principle for social conscience.<ref name=Sumant-2004>{{cite book |author=Sumant, Yashwant |year=2004 |editor1=Jondhale, Surendra |editor2=Beltz, Johannes |title=Reconstructing the World: B.R. Ambedkar and Buddhism in India |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-566529-1 |pages=74–75 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K3VuAAAAMAAJ}}</ref>

Navayana Buddhism began in 1956, when [[B. R. Ambedkar|Bhimrao R. Ambedkar]] adopted it, and 380,000&nbsp;oppressed community members converted to Buddhism from [[Hinduism]] on 14 and 15&nbsp;October 1956.<ref name="Buswell2013p34"/><ref name=queen524/> After that on every year 14&nbsp;October is celebrated as [[Dhammachakra Pravartan Day]] at Dikshabhoomi, Nagpur:
{{blockquote|I will accept and follow the teachings of Buddha. I will keep my people away from the different opinions of Hinayana and Mahayana, two religious orders.{{nowrap| —  B.R. Ambedkar<ref>{{cite news |title=press interview at Sham Hotel, Nagpur |date=13 October 1956 |place=Nagpur, IN |website=Navayan: Homeland of Ambedkarite Buddhism, official website |url=http://www.navayan.com/navayan.php?about-navayan |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110208224554/http://www.navayan.com/navayan.php?about-navayan |archive-date=2011-02-08}}</ref>}} }}

== Scripture and practice ==
The writings of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar were posthumously published as ''[[The Buddha and His Dhamma]]'', and this is the scripture also known as Bible Buddhism bringing all important teaching of Buddha into one book.<ref>{{cite book |author=Queen, Christopher |editor=Emmanuel, Steven M. |title=A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy |year=2015 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-119-14466-3 |pages=529–531 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P_lmCgAAQBAJ}}</ref> Among Navayana followers, state Keown & Prebish (2013),<ref name="KeownPrebish2013p24"/> this is "often referred to as their 'bible' and its novel interpretation of the Buddhist path commonly constitutes their only source of knowledge on the subject".<ref name="KeownPrebish2013p24"/>

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar is regarded as a ''[[bodhisattva]]'', the [[Maitreya]], among the Indian Buddhists.<ref name="Fitzgerald2003">{{cite book |author=Fitzgerald, Timothy |title=The Ideology of Religious Studies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R7A1f6Evy84C&pg=PA129 | year=2003 |publisher= Oxford University Press |isbn= 978-0-19-534715-9 |page=129}}</ref><ref name="KuldovaVarghese2017">{{cite book |author=Bose, M.B. |editor1=Kuldova, Tereza |editor2=Varghese, Mathew A. |year=2017 |title=Urban Utopias: Excess and expulsion in neoliberal south Asia |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-47623-0 |pages=144–146 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6c9NDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA144}}</ref> In practice, the Navayana followers revere Ambedkar, states Deitrick (2013),<ref name=Deitrick-2013/> as virtually on-par with the Buddha.<ref name=Deitrick-2013>{{cite book |author=Deitrick, Jim |year=2013 |editor1=Keown, Damien |editor2=Prebish, Charles S. |title=Encyclopedia of Buddhism |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-98588-1 |page=25 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NFpcAgAAQBAJ}}</ref> He is considered as the one prophesied to appear and teach the ''dhamma'' after it was forgotten; his iconography is a part of Indian Buddhist shrines and he is shown with a halo.<ref name="KuldovaVarghese2017"/> Though Ambedkar states ''He is an ordinary man still Indian Buddhist shrines features images of the Ambedkar along with Buddha, and the followers bow and offer prayers before them in practice.<ref>{{cite book |author=Robinson, Rowena |year=2003 |title=Religious Conversion in India: Modes, motivations, and meanings |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-566329-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eNsoAAAAYAAJ}}</ref> According to Junghare (1988),<ref name=Junghare-1988/> for the followers of Navayana, Ambedkar has become a deity and is devotionally worshipped.<ref name=Junghare-1988>{{cite journal |last=Junghare |first=I.Y. |year=1988 |url=http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/1458 |title=Dr. Ambedkar: The hero of the Mahars, ex-untouchables of India |journal=Asian Folklore Studies |volume=47 |issue=1 |pages=93–121|doi=10.2307/1178254 |jstor=1178254 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

== Reception ==

Ambedkar's re-interpretation of Buddhism and his formulation of Navayana has attracted admirers and criticism.<ref name=blackburn1>{{cite journal |first=Anne M. |last=Blackburn |year=1993 |title=Religion, kinship and Buddhism: Ambedkar's vision of a moral community |journal=The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=1–22 |url=http://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/jiabs/article/download/8805/2712}}</ref> The Navayana theories restate the core doctrines of Buddhism, according to Zelliot & Macy (1980),<ref name=zelliot134/> wherein Ambedkar's "social emphasis exclude[s] or distort some teaching, fundamental to traditional and canonical Buddhism".<ref name=zelliot134>{{cite book |first1=Eleanor |last1=Zelliot |first2=Joanna Rogers |last2=Macy |year=1980 |article=Tradition and innovation in contemporary Indian Buddhism |editor-first=A.K. |editor-last=Narain |title=Studies in the History of Buddhism |place=Delhi, IN |publisher=B.R. Publishing |pages=134–142}}</ref> Anne Blackburn states that Ambedkar re‑interprets core concepts of Buddhism in [[class conflict]] terms, where [[nirvana]] is not the aim and end of spiritual pursuits, but a preparation for social action against inequality:

''Nibbana'' (Skt. [[nirvana]]) the state or process which describes enlightenment, is considered [by Ambedkar] a precursor for moral action in the world and explicitly associated with a non-monastic lifestyle. ''Nibbana'' "means enough control over passion so as to enable one to walk on the path of righteousness". Ambedkar's understanding of ''[[dukkha]]'' and [[nirvana|''nibbana'']] implies that moral action, for which nibbana is preparation, will rectify sufferings of Mankind.

Ambedkar considered all ideas in Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism that relate to an individual's merit and spiritual development as insertions into Buddhism, and something that "cannot be accepted to be the word of the Buddha". Buddhism, to Ambedkar, must have been a social reform movement.<ref name=blackburn1/><ref name=zelliot134/> Martin Fuchs states that Ambedkar's effort is to be admired as an attempt to seek a "post-religious religion" which transcends distinctions and as being driven by the "reasonable principle of sociality", not in the sense of spiritual doctrines, philosophical speculations and existentialist questions.<ref>{{cite book |first=Martin |last=Fuchs |year=2001 |article=A religion for civil society? Ambedkar's Buddhism, the Dalit issue and the imagination of emergent possibilities |editor1=Dalmia, Vasudha |editor2=Malinar, Angelika |editor3=Christof, Martin |title=Charisma and Canon: Essays on the religious history of the Indian subcontinent |pages=250–273 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-01956-545-30}}</ref>

According to Blackburn, "neither view of traditional Buddhism — as a social reform movement or as some other stable entity interpreted (or misinterpreted) from a social reform perspective — is historically accurate", thereby placing Navayana theories to be ahistorical, though it served as an important means for Dalit political mobilization and social movement.<ref name=blackburn1/>

Scholars broadly accept that the depictions of the Buddha as a social reformer are inaccurate.<ref name=blackburn1/><ref name=Krishan-1986>{{cite journal |first=Y. |last=Krishan |year=1986 |url=http://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/jiabs/article/download/8676/2583 |title=Buddhism and the caste system |journal=The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=71–84}}</ref>{{efn|It has been long recognised that Buddhism and Jainism were not movements for social reform, and that the Buddha's doctrine did not aim at transformation or improvement of the social conditions.<ref name=Krishan-1986/>}} [[Richard Gombrich|Gombrich]] (2012)<ref name=gombrich345/> states that there is no evidence that the Buddha began or pursued social reforms; rather his aim was the salvation of those who joined his monastic order.<ref name=gombrich345>{{cite book |first=Richard |last=Gombrich |author-link=Richard Gombrich |year=2012 |title=Buddhist Precept & Practice |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-15623-6 |pages=344–345, context and discussion: 343–370 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lqp4LuZQnHsC}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Randall |last=Collins |year=2000 |title=The Sociology of Philosophies: A global theory of intellectual change |publisher=Harvard University Press |pages=205–206}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Queen, Christopher S. |author2=King, Sallie B. |year=1996 |title=Engaged Buddhism: Buddhist Liberation Movements in Asia |publisher=State University of New York Press |isbn=978-0-7914-2844-3 |pages=17–18 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6ZsTgY1lNNsC&pg=PA17}}</ref> Modernist interpreters of Buddhism, states Gombrich, keep picking up this "mistake from western authors", a view that initially came into vogue during the colonial era.<ref name=gombrich345/><ref>{{cite book |first=Wanda |last=Alberts |year=2007 |title=Integrative Religious Education in Europe: A study-of-religions approach |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-097134-7 |pages=258–259 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xvwKWS3VKfcC&pg=PA258}}</ref><ref name="lopez84">{{cite book |author=Lopez, Donald S. Jr. |year=2009 |title=Buddhism and Science: A guide for the perplexed |pages=84–91 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-49324-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M1rTNRb5uA4C}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Richard Gombrich adds that Buddha should not be seen as a social reformer: "his concern was to reform individuals and help them leave society forever, not to reform the world... He never preached against social inequality, only declared its irrelevance to salvation. He never tried to abolish the caste system nor to do away with slavery"<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6ZsTgY1lNNsC&pg=PA17 | title=Engaged Buddhism: Buddhist Liberation Movements in Asia | isbn=9780791428443 | last1=Queen | first1=Christopher S. | last2=King | first2=Sallie B. | date=14 March 1996 | publisher=SUNY Press }}</ref>}}

Empirical evidence outside of India, such as in the Theravada Buddhist monasteries of the Sinhalese society, suggests that class ideas have been prevalent among the ''sangha'' monks, and between the Buddhist monks and the laity. In all canonical Buddhist texts, the ''khattiyas'' (warrior class) are always mentioned first and never other classes such as ''brahmans'', ''vessas'', ''suddas''.<ref>{{cite book |author=Gombrich, Richard |year=2012 |title=Buddhist Precept & Practice |pages=343–366 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-15623-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lqp4LuZQnHsC}}</ref>

The novel interpretations and the dismissal of mainstream doctrines of Buddhism by Ambedkar as he formulated Navayana has led some to suggest that Navayana may more properly be called Ambedkarism.<ref name="KeownPrebish2013p24"/> However, Ambedkar did not consider himself as the originator of a new Buddhism, but stated that he was merely reviving what was original Buddhism after centuries of "misguided interpretation" by wrong headed Buddhist monks.<ref name="KeownPrebish2013p24"/> Others, states Skaria, consider Ambedkar attempting a synthesis of the ideas of modern [[Karl Marx]] into the structure of ideas by the ancient Buddha, as Ambedkar worked on essays on both in the final years of his life.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Skaria |first=A. |year=201 |title=Ambedkar, Marx, and the Buddhist question |journal=Journal of South Asian Studies |publisher=Taylor & Francis |volume=38 |issue=3 |pages=450–4655 |doi=10.1080/00856401.2015.1049726 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

According to Janet Contursi, Ambedkar re-interprets Buddhist religion and with Navayana "speaks through Gautama and politicizes the Buddha philosophy as he theologizes his own political views".<ref>{{cite journal | last=Contursi | first=Janet A. | year=1993 | title=Political Theology: Text and Practice in a Dalit Panther Community | journal=The Journal of Asian Studies | publisher=Cambridge University Press | volume=52 | issue=2 | pages=320–339 | doi=10.2307/2059650 | jstor=2059650 | s2cid=162564306 }}</ref>

== Status in India ==
[[File:Buddhist sects.png|thumb|Map showing major [[Buddhist divisions]], Navayana in pink.]]
[[File:District wise Buddhist population percentage, India census 2011.png|thumb|Buddhist population percentage by district, India census 2011. India's  [[Maharashtra]] has a high concentration of Navayana [[Marathi Buddhists]].]]

The [[Scheduled Castes]] Order (Amendment) Act, 1990 granted reservation to Dalit Buddhists and recognized their Scheduled Caste status.<ref>{{cite book |last=Singh |first=Surya |title=Caste-based Discrimination in International Human Rights Law |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8hrtCwAAQBAJ |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2016|isbn=978-1-317-16950-5 }}</ref>

According to the [[2011 Census of India]] there are 8.4 million Buddhists in India. Navayana Buddhists comprise about 87% (7.3 million) of the Indian Buddhist community, with nearly 90% (6.5 million) of all Navayana Buddhists in India living in [[Maharashtra]] state.<ref name=indiaspendnava/><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thequint.com/india/2017/06/17/dalits-converting-to-buddhism |title= Manu Moudgil, Dalits are still converting to Buddhism, but at a dwindling rate |website=The Quint |date=2017-06-17}}</ref> A 2017 IndiaSpend.com report on census data says "Buddhists have a literacy rate of 81.29%, higher than the national average of 72.98%", but it does not distinguish Navayana Buddhists from other Buddhists.<ref name=indiaspendnava>{{cite web |title=Conversion to Buddhism has brought literacy, gender equality and well-being to dalits |first=Manu |last=Moudgil |website=www.indiaspend.com |url=http://www.indiaspend.com/cover-story/conversion-to-buddhism-has-brought-literacy-gender-equality-and-well-being-to-dalits-18224 |quote=IndiaSpend-Journalism India - Data Journalism India - Investigative Journalism - IndiaSpend}}</ref> When compared to overall literacy rate of Maharashtra state where 80% of Buddhists are found, their literacy rate is 83.17% or slightly higher than statewide average of 82.34%.<ref name=indiaspendnava/>

According to Jean Darian, the conversion to Buddhism and its growth in India has in part been because of nonreligious factors, in particular the political and economic needs of the community as well as the needs of the political leaders and the expanding administrative structure in India.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Darian | first=Jean C. | year=1977 | title=Social and Economic Factors in the Rise of Buddhism | journal=Sociological Analysis | publisher=Oxford University Press | volume=38 | issue=3 | pages=226–231 | doi=10.2307/3709803 | jstor=3709803 }}</ref>

==Festivals==
Major festivals among Navayana Buddhists are:
* [[Ambedkar Jayanti]]
* [[Dhammachakra Pravartan Day]] 
* [[Buddha's Birthday]]

== See also ==
{{Commons category|Navayana}}
* [[Buddhism in India]]
* [[Buddhist modernism]]
* [[Buddhist socialism]]
* [[Engaged Buddhism]]
* [[Humanistic Buddhism]]
* [[Marathi Buddhists]]

== Footnotes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist|25em}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite journal |last=Ambedkar |first=Bhimrao R. |author-link=B. R. Ambedkar |year=1950 |title=Buddha and the Future of His Religion |journal=The Mahä-Bodhi |volume=58 |issue=4–5 |pages=117–118, 199–20 6|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.99895}}
* {{cite book |last=Ambedkar |first=Bhimrao R. |author-link=B. R. Ambedkar |year=2011 |editor-last1=Rathore |editor-first1=Aakash Singh |editor-last2=Verma |editor-first2=Ajay |title=The Buddha and his Dhamma: A critical edition |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780198068679}}
*{{cite journal |last=Gannon |first=Shane P. |year=2011 |title=Conversion as a thematic site: Academic representations of Ambedkar's Buddhist turn |journal=Method & Theory in the Study of Religion |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=1–28 |jstor=23555728 |doi=10.1163/157006811X549670 }}
* {{cite book |author1=Jondhale, Surendra |author2=Beltz, Johannes |year=2004 |title=Reconstructing the world: B.R. Ambedkar and Buddhism in India |place=New Delhi, IN |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0195665295}}
* {{cite book |author=Singh, Aakash |year=2011 |article=The political theology of Navayana Buddhism |editor1=Losonczi, Péter |editor2=Luoma-aho, Mika |title=The Future of Political Theology: Religious and Theological Perspectives |place=Farnham, Surrey, UK; Burlington, VT |publisher=Ashgate |pages=159–172 |isbn=9781409417606}}

== External links ==
* {{cite web |first=P.J.C.L. |last=van&nbsp;der&nbsp;Velde |year= |title=The Biography, ''Navayana'' as the ''new Vehicle'', and Upaya |publisher=Radboud University |place=The Netherlands |series=Psychotherapy and Buddhism |url=http://www.psychotherapieenboeddhisme.nl/documents/bionavupaya2.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005221937/http://www.psychotherapieenboeddhisme.nl/documents/bionavupaya2.pdf |archive-date=2011-10-05}}{{full citation needed|date=March 2021|reason=needs year published}}
* {{cite journal |first=Byung-Jo |last=Chung |date=September 2003 |title=Navayāna Buddhism: A fresh direction for Buddhism to reflect the new millenium |journal=International Journal of Buddhist Thought & Culture |volume=3 |via=eng.buddhapia.com |url=http://eng.buddhapia.com/_Service/_ContentView/ETC_CONTENT_2.ASP?pk=0001378004&sub_pk=&clss_cd=0002204363&top_menu_cd=0000000287&menu_cd=0000008843&menu_code=0000008843 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719081538/http://eng.buddhapia.com/_Service/_ContentView/ETC_CONTENT_2.ASP?pk=0001378004&sub_pk=&clss_cd=0002204363&top_menu_cd=0000000287&menu_cd=0000008843&menu_code=0000008843 |archive-date=2011-07-19}}

{{Buddhism topics}}
{{Religion topics}}

[[Category:Navayana| ]]
[[Category:B. R. Ambedkar]]
[[Category:Buddhism in Maharashtra]]
[[Category:Buddhist new religious movements]]
[[Category:Dalit]]
[[Category:Indian Buddhists|*]]