Engaging the Younger Generation: Dalit Experiences

Dhammacharini Jnanasuri and Dhammacharini Tarahridaya

Since Dr Ambedkar’s conversion to Buddhism in 1956 and more recently with the 50th anniversary of his conversion, many young Indian people from the Mahar community and now increasingly beyond this community have been strongly attracted to the Buddhadhamma. Now that their interest has been piqued, members of TMBSG, the Indian branch of the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order (FWBO), are concerned about how to maintain and deepen their interest.

Tarahridaya was born into a Buddhist Ambedkarite family associated with TBMSG/FWBO in the state of Uttar Pradesh, one of the most backward parts of India. She was one of eight children and, despite receiving very little attention to her physical or spiritual well-being, she became deeply involved in the Buddhadhamma in her teens. Now, with two children of her own, she is leads youth retreats that help young women and men develop, maintain, and deepen their Buddhist practice. In her work with young women, she has found that it is crucial to help them face their intense social conditioning, including conventional Hindu views of women’s roles and behavior. Women are expected to behave with deference, obedience, and passivity toward all male family members and in-laws, male and female. With the assistance of trainers from and NGO called Wenlido, Tarahridaya has been helping young women gain self-confidence and an understanding of their cultural conditioning, so that they can face situations of family tension, particularly domestic violence.

Over the past two decades, TBMSG/FWBO has trained teams of young people in Maharashtra in cultural performance through the Ashvaghosh program. In slum areas and rural villages, separate teams of young Buddhist women and men create, rehearse, and then perform songs and short plays that address many serious and difficult cultural issues, including dowry, HIV/AIDs, alcohol abuse, casteism, addiction to TV, and so on. Working and performing with these teams not only increases young people’s understanding of critical social issues, but also their self-confidence and ability to offer Dharma perspectives in socially relevant and beneficial ways. As an illustration, Tarahridaya will speak about her experiences as part of a women’s Ashvaghosh team for several years.