December 1, 2017:

Originally from Sri Lanka, Pragyanand had come to India in 1942.

Monk Pragyanand, who initiated BR Ambedkar into the Buddhism in 1956, passed away in Lucknow on Thursday.

He was 90.

Pragyanand passed away at the King George’s Medical University (KGMU), Lucknow where he was admitted five days ago following breathlessness and chest congestion.

He was last surviving one of seven monks who gave ‘diksha’ to BR Ambedkar on April 14, 1956, at Nagpur in Maharashtra.

Hailing from Sri Lanka, Pragyanand had come to India in 1942 and decided to settle in India thereafter.

UP Minister Swamy Prasad Maurya had visited Hospital’s Gandhi Ward and paid the floral tributes to late monk.

Several Buddhist monks and the Dalit leaders visited Pragyanand’s residence to pay their last respects.

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Source - ptinews.com