Buddhism in India

I can not claim to be very knowledgeable or an expert on Buddhism in India, but I can offer some personal experiences and observations. I live in Jaipur, which is in the state of Rajasthan. We have been taught that there are no Buddhist temples in Jaipur. However, this does not mean that Buddhism does not exist here, and in fact one of the students on this program was placed in a Buddhist family home-stay. So, there are practicing Buddhists in Jaipur, however I don’t think they have a permanent, public gathering place. It is also not uncommon to see Buddha statues in homes and Laughing Buddhas are often given as gifts. For example, my family is Hindu, but we have a laughing Buddha and our brother feels completely comfortable wearing the Buddhist beads that Rachel and I brought him from our trip to Rishikesh.
While I haven’t personally spoken to any Buddhists, I have read about the rise of Buddhism in India as a reaction against animal sacrifice that was practiced in Hinduism. Both Guatama Buddha and Vardhamana Mahaveera (who started Jainism) left Hinduism. This occurred in 500 B.C. Buddhism was also made the official religion of the Maurya Empire in the 200s B.C. by Emperor Ashok Maurya, who converted to Buddhism after seeing the horrors of war. Amedkar is another Hindu, who converted to Buddhism as a protest to the unjust caste system, which he believed is intrinsic to Hinduism. Amedkar has written and spoken much about the need to convert from Hinduism to more just religions. From my readings, I have learned that many untouchables and lower castes do convert to Buddhism, Christianity or Islam as a way of escaping the Brahmanic caste system.