Deekshabhoomi Stupa, Nagpur

Dikshabhoomi, Nagpur

The Hill of Initiation

On four (now twenty-two) acres in Nagpur rises the largest hollow stupa on earth — a Sanchi dome you can walk inside. Below it, on 14 October 1956, a man in a suit gave half a million people a new religion. Dikshabhoomi ("initiation ground") is Navayana Buddhism's Mecca, and India's most politically charged pilgrimage.

What Is Here

• The stupa: 211×211-ft hall, Buddha image (Thai gift), library and photo-exhibition of Buddha-and-Babasaheb lives; relic vessel in gold-polished silver; Bodhi tree and monks' quarters alongside
• The 22-vows pillar in marble — read it before entering; the Constitution's Preamble stands nearby, deliberately
• October 14 (Dhammachakra Pravartan Din): millions in white and blue, Dhamma flags, bookstalls of Ambedkarite literature — part pilgrimage, part assertion, wholly peaceful

Visiting

• Open daily; the library repays an hour; photography rules posted at gates
• Pair with Nagpur's Zero Mile and Dragon Palace (Japanese Buddhist temple) in one day