Having said this, Ambedkar then contemplated for almost two decades, before he chose to convert to Buddhism over other religions. According to Gauri Vishwanathan, a professor of English at Columbia University, the reason behind his choice was in fact, the “foreignness” associated with Islam and Christianity.

Apart from a deep-rooted disdain for the caste system inherent in Hinduism, another possible reason that could have driven Ambedkar’s choice was that Buddhism met his core values of rationality, morality and justice. According to religion studies specialist Christopher Queen, Buddhism helped Ambedkar realise his requirements – "the exercise of individual choice based on reason and historical consciousness.”

Further, Queen also suggests that Amebedkar modified the religion’s basic tenets to fit his idea of Buddhism – particularly by including the values of equality, fraternity and liberty from the French revolution.

Ambedkar’s re-interpretation was called the Dalit Buddhist movement, or Navayana, or Neo-Buddhism. This “new sect” of the religion now rejected the “four noble truths” of traditional Buddhism, and was instead remodeled in terms of class struggle and social justice.