Even though Buddhism probably had some emancipatory potential for the downtrodden from its inception in the sixth century BCE, this potential gradually declined in its establishment as an ideology of the ruling dynasties largely upheld by the religious practices of the masses in ancient and medieval Ceylon. The nineteenth century Buddhist revival in Ceylon under the leadership of Anagarika Dharmapala did contain some anti-colonial tendencies, but this new form of Sinhala Buddhism subsequently became an ideology of the Sinhala ruling classes in independent Sri Lanka. Against this background, the Navayana Buddhism invented by Dr Ambedkar built on the emancipatory potential of Buddhism by converting it into a moral foundation for the Dalit struggle against untouchability and inherited social disadvantages. This article explores the ambivalent and contradictory dynamics in the hegemonic and transformative tendencies in Buddhism within the larger South Asian context.
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