Ambedkar had faith in ancient Indian institutions and texts except caste. He was convinced with the spiritual aspect of Indian texts and codes but not with its ritualistic aspects which had developed in last 1200 years. He talked about annihilation of Caste and not Dharma. He understood the importance of Dharma in India and when the time of conversion came as he had declared earlier, he chose Buddhism.Dr. Ambedkar pointed out that historic roots of democracy in India go back to pre-Buddhist India. A study of the Buddhist Bhikshu Sanghas discloses that the Sanghas were nothing but Parliaments and knew all the rules of Parliamentary procedure known to modern times. Although these rules of Parliamentary procedure were applied by the Buddha to the meetings of the Sanghas, he must have borrowed them from the rules of the political assemblies functioning in the country in his time.
Dr. Ambedkar emphasized that Hindus need not 'borrow from foreign sources' concepts to build a society on the principles of equality, fraternity and liberty. They 'could draw for such principles on the Upanishads.' Even in riddles in Hinduism, he points out that Hinduism has the potential to become the spiritual basis of social democracy.