Facing discrimination, Indian Dalits convert to Buddhism
Kanti Sarvaiya left his Hindu heritage behind and became a Buddhist.
“Hinduism has done nothing for us,” said Sarvaiya, 20, who lives in the western Indian state of Gujarat. “So our family elders have decided to convert.”
In July, upper-caste men publicly flogged a group of Dalits—formerly considered “untouchables”—in the village of Mota Samadhiyala on the suspicion of slaughtering a cow, a sacred animal in Indian religions. Some of the victims were Sarvaiya’s relatives. Fed up with Hinduism’s caste system—entrenched for centuries—he and his family want out.
