caste system
Refurbishing holy site, India’s Modi levels ancient spiritual landscape
By Priyadarshini Sen — April 22, 2019
VARANASI, India (RNS) — Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 'dream project' at an 18th-century shrine to Lord Shiva has swept up monasteries, old-age homes and shops that had existed for generations.
Hindus in India are converting to Buddhism to protest treatment of lower castes
By Jason Overdorf — May 3, 2018
NEW DELHI, India (RNS) — Though it is illegal in India to discriminate on the basis of caste, the nearly 3,000-year-old social stratification system — while not as determinant in the life of many Indians as it used to be — still holds sway.
A Dalit community looks to escape the caste system by converting to Buddhism
By Yonat Shimron — May 11, 2017
AHMEDABAD, India (RNS) More than 300 conversions took place across the state of Gujarat during an October ceremony — the direct response to a surge of caste-based violence.
Reza Aslan’s ‘Believer’ sensationalizes and stereotypes Hindus
By Aseem Shukla — March 7, 2017
(RNS) What Aslan should have done is give voice to the scores of contemporary Hindu spiritual leaders who reject the notion that Hinduism or its scriptures sanction a birth-based hierarchy or caste-based discrimination.
Indian Dalits hope to end discrimination through conversion
By RNS staff — September 27, 2016
MUMBAI, India (RNS) Fed up with the divisiveness of Hinduism’s caste system -- entrenched for centuries -- many Dalits are finding refuge in Buddhism.
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