hinduwoman

The struggle is already going on. The thing is untouchables who have become well-to-do does not want actually to change to christianity because that meant they would lose the special reservations they are getting. Since Hindu religion practices discrimination, hindus get the benefits; but since Christians keep on saying their religion does not discriminate, anyone who becomes a Christian or a Muslim automatically becomes inelegible.

lpetrich

So some of the more successful Dalits are abusing affirmative action, it would seem.

Also, as Hinduwoman has pointed out, they had continued to follow Hinduism during the Islamic and British periods; one wonders why they had never thought of converting to Buddhism at some time after it had gone out of style in India (not sure exactly what happened in the revival of Hinduism there).

hinduwoman

Actually, many lowcastes converted to Buddhism when it first arose.

But the Bhakti religious movements had also begun in hinduism, which insisted on equality, so many went there.

In 1940's the Dalit leader Dr. Ambedkar converted many of his followers to Buddhism as a mark of protest.

lpetrich

Thanx, hinduwoman. The rise and fall of Buddhism in India is an interesting question; what happened to Hinduism in between? Did it lose prestige for a while? Or was it something like

Old Hinduism -> Buddhism -> New Hinduism

with Hinduism continuing in some Buddhist guise?

On the "old" side would be the Vedas, priests doing cow sacrifices, and the like; on the "new" side would be the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, Krishna, the sacredness of cows, and the like, along with some carryovers from the old side.

Finally, I agree that that 300-million mass conversion seems like a rather dubious urban legend; Christian Fundies have never been known for great critical sense about their beliefs, it must be said.