Ashutosh Lokhande
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I didnt said its the only reson but one of the main reson. I being from a dalit/sc background have a first hand experience and tellings from my fathers and forefathers about this issue. Bhim rao ambedkar who almost single handedly wrote the constituion of india himself was sick of this stupid hindu concept of unequality/ casteism and decided to convert into buddhism 4 yrs prior to his death. Many have hence converted to budhism or christianity or jainism.Not quite true. Buddha was against corruption in brahmins. Priests started taking more and more money/stuff for doing things, thus forgetting the spirit of rituals, forgetting the meaning behind teh rituals and so on. So what he wanted to stop that and go back what they were really meant for. Of course he had his own ideas on what they were.
A lot of american/european outsider sources these days seem to have added this part about anti-casteism. But these is little evidence about him being against caste. In fact a large majority of followers were from kashatriya and brahmin lines.
Refer here: Koenraad Elst: The Buddha and Caste
If nothing else, the prediction of the next buddha is probably the most telling one:
I think people confuse his reform with societal reform, remember back then, caste was not seen as bad, or maybe it was not corrupted yet, and there was mobility which it lost out later (became hereditary)
For me theres no pride in saying that i belong from a hindu religion. Maybe for upper class but not us.
One of the reson British rule has been also seen as a silverlining is coz they wer the first to prohibite this stupid concept.
The people you are say brahmins and kshatriya have took a learned decision to convert and there can be many resons for it. But the main reson for low caste people(who are majority) to convert from hinduism to buddhism or christianity is unequality and casteism.