THE ASIAN INDEPENDENT, UK
Asoka Vijayadashami was celebrated at various places of India with great participation of people all over the country. Millions of followers of Baba Saheb visited Deeksha Bhumi in Nagpur and paid their respect. Nagpur looked totally as a Buddhist city as various Buddhist organisations had put their stalls and organised Bhojan dan.
Author and founder of Prerna Kendra near Kushinagar, Vidya Bhushan Rawat organised a special Bhojan Dan and celebrated Dhammachakra Pravartan Day at the Prerna kendra on October 14th. Local villagers participated in the event. The ceremony was led by Venerable Bhikkhu Dr Nandratan Thero from Kushinagar. He greeted the people on Dhammachakra Pravartan Day and asked the people to follow the humanist and rationalist path shown by Buddhism. He also said that Buddhism bring you back with nature which keep you cheerful. He said, ‘On this day, Lord Buddha delivered his first sermon after attaining Bhudhatva at Sarnath. King Asoka embraced Buddhism on this day that is why it is also called as Asoka Vijayadashami ‘.
In his welcome remark, Vidya Bhushan Rawat said that we want to carry the message of Baba Saheb to the most marginalised. Politician do their work but it is time the cultural revolution initiated by Baba Saheb need to spread all over the country and itvis important that scholars of Buddhism particularly those who know Pali must engage with common people and share their knowledge of Dhamma with them. He also gave a brief history of this day which happened to be Vijayadashami too I.e October 14th, 1956 when Baba Saheb Ambedkar took Deeksha from Venerable Bhadant Chandramani at Nagpur. He gave Deeksha to nearly half a million followers in Nagpur and a couple lakhs people in Chandrapur two days later. Afterwards, this place has become world famous known as Deekshabhumi. Every year, millions of the followers of Baba Saheb visit Deekshabhumi to patly their respect to Baba Saheb and celebrate Asoka Vijayadashami. Ofcourse, this year it came on 12th October but we respect the event and the day on 14th October too.Vidya Bhushan Rawat also said,
‘For many years, I had been a regular visitor of Deeksha Bhumi on this day but this year we started a new event at our Prerna Kendra at village Malwabar on Deoria Kushinagar border in eastern Uttar Pradesh. It was important to carry the message of Baba Saheb Ambedkar to the different communities who never got the opportunity to understand them.
Bhikkhu Dr Nandratan Thero express his happiness that such an important gathering was organised in the Mushahar Basti with involvement of other Dalit backward community people. He hope that it would be a regular event so that lives of people improve in this backward area.Prerna Kendra coordinator Ms Sangita Kushwaha said that It was wonderful that Bhikkhu Nandratan ji and other Bhikkhu along with him spoke about the historical facts of Asoka Vijayadashami.
Bhante Nandratan and others also released the book ,’ Ambedkarwad :vichardhara aur Sangharsh ‘ written by Vidya Bhushan Rawat.
Later, all had food together. It was inspiring that so many women from the marginalised communities participating in the event, said Riya Kushwaha.
Local Ambedkarite activist Sudama Prasad Tyagi and many other Buddhist social Activist too participated in the event and express their happiness and thanked the organiser.
