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[[File:Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar accepting Dhamma Deeksha - Buddhism from Mahasthavir Chandramani along with Wali Sinha, Rewaramji Kawade and wife Maisaheb on October 14, 1956.jpg|thumb|left|Ambedkar receiving the [[Five Precepts]] from Mahasthavir Chandramani on 14 October 1956. In the photograph (from right to left): Savita Ambedkar, B. R. Ambedkar, Wali Sinha and bhikkhu Chandramani.]]
{{Quote box|width=25%|align=right|quote="... I regard the Buddha's Dhamma ''(Buddhism)'' to be the best. No religion can be compared to it. If a modern man who knows science must have a religion, the only religion he can have is the Religion of the Buddha. This conviction has grown in me after thirty-five years of close study of all religions."|source=— Babasaheb Ambedkar, ''preface of [[The Buddha and His Dhamma]]'', 6 April 1956<ref>[http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/ambedkar_buddha/00_pref_unpub.html UNPUBLISHED PREFACE April 6, 1956]. (Text provided by Eleanor Zelliot, as prepared by Vasant Moon). Columbia.edu.</ref>}}
On October 13th, 1935 Ambedkar presided over the Yeola Conversion Conference, held in Yeola, in Nasikh District. He advised the Depressed Classes to abandon all agitation for temple-entry privileges; instead, they should leave Hinduism entirely and embrace another religion. He vowed, "I solemnly assure you that I will not die as a Hindu."<ref name="Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission">{{cite book||last=Keer|first=Dhananjay|title=Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission|year=1971|publisher=Popular Prakashan|location=Mumbai|page=256|chapter-url=https://books.google.co.in/books?id=B-2d6jzRmBQC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA253#v=onepage&q&f=false|chapter=A Thunderbolt}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| last = Pritchett| first = Frances|url=http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/timeline/1930s.html| title = In the 1930s}}</ref> Ambedkar considered converting to [[Sikhism]], which encouraged opposition to oppression and so appealed to leaders of scheduled castes. But after meeting with Sikh leaders, he concluded that he might get "second-rate" Sikh status, as described by scholar [[Stephen P. Cohen]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Untouchable Soldier: Caste, Politics, and the Indian Army |first=Stephen P. |last=Cohen |journal=The Journal of Asian Studies |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages = 453–468|date=May 1969 |doi=10.2307/2943173|jstor = 2943173}} {{subscription required}}</ref>
Instead, he studied Buddhism all his life. Around 1950, he devoted his attention to Buddhism and travelled to [[Ceylon]] (now Sri Lanka) to attend a meeting of the [[World Fellowship of Buddhists]].<ref name="Sanghara kshita">{{cite book|last=Sangharakshita|title=Ambedkar and Buddhism|year=2006|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publishers|location=New Delhi|isbn=978-8120830233|page=72|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e-b2EzNRxQIC&pg=PA72|edition=1st South Asian |accessdate=17 July 2013|chapter=Milestone on the Road to conversion}}</ref> While dedicating a new Buddhist [[vihara]] near [[Pune]], Ambedkar announced he was writing a book on Buddhism, and that when it was finished, he would formally convert to Buddhism.<ref name="Columbia7">{{cite web| last = Pritchett| first = Frances|url=http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/timeline/1950s.html| title = In the 1950s| format = PHP| accessdate = 2 August 2006| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060620200055/http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/timeline/1950s.html| archivedate= 20 June 2006 | deadurl=no}}</ref> He twice visited Burma in 1954; the second time to attend the third conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists in [[Rangoon]].<ref name="Docker">{{cite book |editor1-last=Ganguly |editor1-first=Debjani |editor2-last=Docker |editor2-first=John |title=Rethinking Gandhi and Nonviolent Relationality: Global Perspectives |series= Routledge studies in the modern history of Asia |volume=46 |year=2007 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=978-0415437400 |oclc=123912708 |page=257}}</ref> In 1955, he founded the [[Bharatiya Bauddha Mahasabha]], or the [[Buddhist Society of India]].<ref name="Quack">{{cite book |last1=Quack |first1=Johannes |title=Disenchanting India: Organized Rationalism and Criticism of Religion in India |year=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0199812608 |oclc=704120510 |page=88}}</ref> He completed his final work, ''[[The Buddha and His Dhamma]]'', in 1956 which was published posthumously.<ref name="Quack"/>
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