This dissertation examines attempts at the revival of Buddhism in India from the late nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth century. Typically, Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar's conversion to Buddhism in 1956 is seen as the start of the neo-Buddhist movement in India. I see this important post-colonial moment as an endpoint in a larger trajectory of efforts at reviving Buddhism in India. The term "revival" itself arose as a result of a particular understanding of Indian history as having had a Buddhist phase in the distant past. Buddhism is also seen in the historiography as a British colonial discovery (or "recovery") for their Indian subjects viz. a range of archaeological and philological endeavors starting in the early decades of the nineteenth century. I argue that there was a quite prolific Indian discourse on Buddhism starting from the late nineteenth century that segued into secret histories of cosmopolitanism, modernity, nationalism and caste radicalism in India. In this context I examine a constellation of figures including the Sri Lankan Buddhist ideologue and activist Anagarika Dharmapala, Buddhist studies scholars like Beni Madhab Barua, the Hindi writer, socialist, and sometime Buddhist monk Rahula Sankrityayana, the first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru and Ambedkar himself among others, to explicate how Buddhism was constructed and deployed in the service of these ideologies and pervaded both liberal and radical Indian thought formations. In the process, Buddhism came to be characterized as both a universal and national religion, as the first modern faith system long before the actual advent of the modern age, as a system of ethics that espoused liberal values, an ethos of gender and caste equality, and independent and rational thinking, as a veritable civil religion for a new nation, and as a liberation theology for Dalits in India and indeed for the entire nation. My dissertation is about the people, networks, ideas and things that made this possible. / History

Dans le contexte colonial, le bouddhisme était dans une situation critique. Du sud au nord, les appels des moines et des laïcs se font entendre en faveur d'une réforme en profondeur, comme le montre la voie de la rénovation bouddhique dans d'autres pays asiatiques, notamment en Chine. Fondée le 6 novembre 1934 par décision du Résident supérieur du Tonkin, l’Association bouddhique du Tonkin réunit autour de son projet un grand nombre de personnes, issues de classes sociales très différentes, afin d’œuvrer à la rénovation bouddhique. Ceci à destinations des fidèles comme des religieux avec l'objectif de rendre le bouddhisme conforme à sa doctrine, et en même temps adapté à la société dans laquelle ils vivent. En bénéficiant de nouveaux facteurs dans la vie culturelle et intellectuelle, l’Association bouddhique possède des outils modernes pour une meilleure compréhension et une diffusion plus large vers le public. Elle édite des livres et une revue, Đuốc Tuệ considérée comme son moyen privilégié pour guider les fidèles dans leur pratique quotidienne du bouddhisme dans un monde moderne. Le bouddhisme d’engagement social promu par l'association, démontre que la pratique du bouddhisme ne signifie pas seulement de prières, d’aller à la pagode et faire des offrandes. Le bouddhiste moderne c’est celui qui s’engage dans la société de son temps à travers des actions concrètes en respectant les valeurs morales bouddhiques. Par son influence dans la société, l’Association bouddhique est une version moderniste dans le domaine religieux, ce qui contribue à construire le bouddhisme moderne au Vietnam avec un nouveau visage et un nouvel esprit, l’esprit d’engagement social. / In the colonial context, Buddhism was in a critical situation. From north to south, under the influence of the movement to revive Buddhism in other Asian countries, especially in China, monks and lay people called for an extensive reformation. Founded on November 6 1934 by the decision of the governor of the Tonkin, the Tonkin Buddhist Association brought together a large number of members, from many different social classes to carry out the Buddhist revival and to address to two subjects, believers and monks, with the aim of bringing Buddhism as a religious consistent with its doctrine and the society in which they live. Inheriting the new factors in the cultural and intellectual lives, including the adoption of quốc ngữ, and the development of the press and publishing, Buddhist Association had the modern tools to explain and spread widely Buddhist teachings for better understanding to the public. It published books and magazine, Đuốc Tuệ (Flambeau de la Spiritualité), in the national language, considered as its preferred way to guide buddhism believers in their daily practice in the modern world. Social engagement of Buddhism promoted by the association, meant that the practice of Buddhism was that the modern Buddhists not only prayed, went to the temples, and offered, but also had to engage to their living society, through practical actions in accordance with the Buddhist moral values. Thanks to its influence of the society, the Tonkin Buddhist Association was a unique symbol of the innovation in the religious field, which contributed to building of the modern Buddhism in Vietnam with a new face and a new spirit, the spirit of social engagement.