Sangharakshita Pilgrimage
Map showing location of Sinhagad Fort — First Indian WBO Ordinations

Sinhagad Fort — First Indian WBO Ordinations

Near Pune, Maharashtra, India · 1979

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18.35420°N, 73.75560°E

Key Facts

  • ◆ The retreat began on 26 February 1979; thirty-three participants attended.
  • ◆ Two bungalows were hired: one from the Public Works Department, one from the Tilak Society.
  • ◆ Participants who came by bus had a five-mile climb from the foot of the hill to reach the fort.
  • ◆ This was the first WBO ordination retreat held in India, marking the entry of FWBO work into the Ambedkarite Buddhist revival.
  • ◆ Sangharakshita had first visited in the early 1960s when it was 'bare and deserted'; much had changed by 1979.

“On the morning of Monday 26 February, thirty-three of us … left for Sinhagad. This was a hill fort situated a thousand feet or more above the surrounding countryside some twenty-five miles out of Poona where I had once spent a few days in the early sixties … All around one could see the flowing contours of the bare yellow-brown mountains with their curiously contorted peaks, range after range to the horizon.”

— Through Buddhist Eyes

Source: Through Buddhist Eyes

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