I first met Rahul Dongre, a son of Maharashtra State, during a visit to Delhi several years ago. He is an Ambedkarite Buddhist, a socio-political-spiritual movement based on the life and example of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar (1891–1956). During our most recent reunion in Dharamshala in May, we found further common ground in our shared interest and practice of Vajrayana Buddhism (he’d just returned from visiting Ladakh, and like yours truly, had been in Dharamshala to see the Dalai Lama). I have had the privilege of calling many Maharashtri Buddhists my friends, with several of them active in Buddhist writing, activism, and teaching. Dongre is one such Maharashtri compatriot, but with the distinction of having a far reach and a considerable audience thanks to his online presence.
Dongre is, in modern social media parlance, a “Buddhist influencer,” a role that has recently gained increasing traction due to an increasing number of social media-savvy individuals, many of them younger Buddhists like Dongre, adopting platforms like Instagram or TikTok to present Buddhist teachings in bite-sized, almost instantaneous formats. Having immersed himself in the influencer’s life for around three years, Dongre is rapidly building his internet presence, with over 36,000 YouTube subscribers, 35,000 followers on Facebook, and over 210,000 followers on Instagram, his most prominent platform.
“Three years back, when I started my social media journey, I had been making motivational videos. Then I visited Dr. Ambedkar’s birthplace, the town of Mhow in Madhya Pradesh. I made a video about my visit, posted it, and it went viral: over 900,000 views,” he told me over a catch-up call. He recalls trying again, to verify whether his success had been just a fluke, or if he’d touched on something that Indians on social media were keen to learn more about. He released another video on Dr. Ambedkar’s life, and once more it went viral. “I realized that there were many who were interested in learning about Dr. Ambedkar and the Buddha’s teachings, together, but the influencers invoking Dr. Ambedkar were often using his name to get famous, or to critique him. Either way, they got their fame!”
Dongre resolved to embark on a social media “middle way,” to frame his Ambedkarite influencer role first as a Buddhist mission. “In my assessment, at the time there was no monastic or layperson on social media presenting Buddhism in a simple way for my target audience,” he said. “I started reading rigorously about Buddhism, and for the past three years, I have been delivering information about the Dharma in small, reference-based snippets that people like to consume.”
While Dongre is an engineer by training (he has an MSc), the influencer role also has its own distinct skillset, one that might not be as institutionalized (and is based much more on personal branding and charisma). Nevertheless, it is a skillset, and a one that entails considerable responsibility. “I actually do a lot of reading, as I mentioned before. We have to be very clear about the subject matter and double-check before posting anything. We have to cross-check our material across multiple platforms because if we put out something that’s incorrect, we are inviting backlash from anyone who’s sharp enough to notice. And this is subject matter that many people care deeply about and have strong opinions on.”
Accuracy and attention to detail is, as much to influencers as journalists, a must. “Our people, Ambedkarites, have faced much persecution and pain in the past. Difficulties around politics and caste still affect our communities, and if we see content that we feel doesn’t do us justice or reflect our situation accurately, we’ll definitely fire back.”
Dongre needs to balance scripting with shortened, tightly packed curation. He acknowledges that audiences’ attention spans are drastically shortened, meaning that they content that’s crisp and to-the-point. “Tell me directly,” he puts it. “And presentation is very important. We have to have camera and editing skills too. I edit my own videos, and if you can use an app to do it, that’s good too.”
I asked him how he makes his content attractive for his viewers. “We always have to follow the trends. For example, in India, people are focused on where government is not working or providing services. So, I will search for references in the Buddhist canon and texts about rulers who adhered to the Dharma by taking care of their people. I always try to connect real-time situations and contexts with the Buddha’s teachings.” An influencer needs to understand what is trending in the news, and a successful post that hits the right social spot could reach millions of views in a single day.
Dongre frequently travels to the Himalayas, exploring the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, and sees part of his mission as bridging the Vajrayana and Ambedkarite traditions. “My traveling is always ‘conscious content creation,’ that is, not just posting photos of nice places.” Through contacts, friends, and scholars, he hopes to provide an educational dimension for Maharashtri Buddhists, who have traditionally emphasized the role of Dr. Ambedkar in reviving Buddhism in India and transforming Scheduled Castes’ understanding of Indian identity.
“Those living in the city are going to Vipassana classes and celebrating Buddha Purnima, and lots of monks are coming into Maharashtra, particularly Nagpur, which is our central node for Buddhism.” He notes that Nagpur, in particular, is the location of the Dikshabhumi tradition, where Dr. Ambedkar held mass conversion ceremonies. “When it comes to practice, there are many who are stuck between understanding the Dharma and practicing Hindu rituals. They haven’t been able to access the full range of Buddhist wisdom. Much of my audience are small city folk and villagers who need more resources to gain more knowledge. Outside of Maharashtra, the situation is actually worse, where everybody knows about Ambedkar, but not about the Buddha.”
Dongre’s concern is that people in these communities only understand that they are in an ancestral struggle against caste, but are effectively unaware of Buddhist teachings like the Four Noble Truths and Noble Eightfold Path. Dr. Ambedkar actually takes the place of a quasi-religious figure in the spiritual imagination of these communities, as he is seen as the person who brought about caste emancipation. “The irony is that they haven’t yet reached the conclusion that Ambedkar himself preached: go to the Buddha for the answers,” observed Dongre.
There are positive signs, however. “As we see Ambedkar as a symbol of education and self-liberation, the community is becoming more well-educated,” he continued. “There are sixty Scheduled Castes in the Indian government’s eyes, but only the Maharashtri caste has the largest growth of Buddhists thanks to its adherence to Dr. Ambedkar’s philosophy. We know we have to ‘educate, agitate, and organize,’ as the famous slogan goes. My focus is always steering Maharashtri communities to the positive side, asking all the time: how can we educate ourselves and cultivate our minds? The Buddha said that we must be a light unto ourselves, and we can only be our own light when we are educated.”
Currently, Dongre is working on his charitable organization, International Bodhiseed Foundation. “As an Ambedkarite Buddhist and influencer, I’m trying to work for children, who are of an age range who need particular attentiveness when it comes to Buddhist education. Currently, our people are practicing mixed Buddhism and Hinduism. So, with International Bodhiseed Foundation, I’m working with children to cultivate Buddhism in the easiest way possible for them. I’m developing the use of apps for kids to access the Dharma more instantaneously, since they will grow to be even more active on social media and apps than previous generations.”
Dongre’s work represents a bridge of education and understanding: between Maharashtri or Ambedkarite Buddhism and Vajrayana, but also his current generation of Buddhist influencers and the young children of India, the future of the Dharma. “There’s much to be done, not only making videos, but working on the ground to change people’s lives and perspectives about Buddhism. The Buddha taught that wisdom and compassion need to be transmitted to every sentient being, including untouchable communities. Dr. Ambedkar embodied this message, so my great hope is to live up to the vision of both figures.”
See more
mr.rahuldongre (Instagram)
Rahul Dongre (YouTube)
Rahul Dongre- Believepreneur (Facebook)
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