The conversion of Dalits from Hinduism to Buddhism is considered a significant event in India's socioreligious history. It has allowed them to escape the social and cultural oppression, they have experienced due to their social location in the Hindu caste system. Nevertheless, the conversion of Dalits also has political implications wherein conversion has provided them a tool through which they assert their distinct socio-religious identity and challenge Hindu majoritarian politics. Therefore, the paper argues that the embedded understanding of religious conversion among Dalits is not about spirituality or attaining spirituality. Instead, it has embraced the other paradigms, such as sociocultural, and political underpinnings that have been playing a vital role in reclaiming and asserting a distinct identity in a society that is filled with various kinds of religious conflicts and contestations. However, these new social identities which are a result of conversion from one religion to another carry new meanings and interpretations. To understand these meanings and interpretations, the paper emphasizes the importance of the ‘context’ of religious conversion in which any conversion is occurring. It further says that each context varies from another and goes through a social process.
So, the paper examines Dalit conversion as a liminal process that goes through many changes in order to create a distinct socio-religious identity. To further elaborate on this, the paper largely focuses on the cultural change in conversion since culture is an important aspect of identity formation. Through reading a case study of the conversion chamar caste from Hinduism to Buddhism, the paper draws attention to the debate on Dalit Buddhist cultural traditions and their contribution to shaping the sociopolitical identity that Dalits attempt to achieve through conversion.
