Buddhist monk Bhante Pragyanand, who was among the seven Bhickshu to give diksha to Dr B R Ambedkar to initiated him to this religion, died here at the KGMU hospital following a prolonged illness. He was 90.
The monk was admitted to the hospital on Sunday last following some breathing problem. But he attained Mahaparinirvan at 1100 hours on Thursday, informed Bhante Suman his close disciple.
Bhante Pragyanand ,who came to India from Sri Lanka in 1942, came into limelight when he was among the seven Bhikshu ,who gave dhamma diksha to Dr B R Ambedkar in Nagpur on October 14,1956.
Bhante used to live at Buddha Vihar,in Risaldar Park area of the state capital, where Dr Ambedkar had visited twice.