Founders of new religious movements

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and politician who chaired the committee that drafted the Constitution of India based on the debates of the Constituent Assembly of India and the first draft of Sir Benegal Narsing Rau. Ambedkar served as Law and Justice minister in the first cabinet of Jawaharlal Nehru. He later renounced Hinduism and converted to Buddhism, inspiring the Dalit Buddhist movement.

Indian spiritual philosopher, mystic, speaker and writer (1895–1986)

'''Baháʼu'lláh (, born Ḥusayn-ʻAlí'''; 12 November 1817 – 29 May 1892) was an Iranian religious leader who founded the Baháʼí Faith. He was born to an aristocratic family in Iran and was exiled due to his adherence to the messianic Bábism. In 1863, in Ottoman Iraq, he first announced his claim to a revelation from God and spent the rest of his life in further imprisonment in the Ottoman Empire. His teachings revolved around the principles of unity and religious renewal, ranging from moral and spiritual progress to world governance.

Indian Bengali philosopher, yogi, maharishi, poet and nationalist (1872–1950)

Charles Milles Manson was an American criminal, cult leader, and musician who was the founder of the Manson Family. He gained notoriety for ordering the Tate–LaBianca murders, where his followers murdered nine people around Los Angeles in 1969.

Rajneesh (born Chandra Mohan Jain; 11 December 193119 January 1990), also known as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Acharya Rajneesh, and commonly known as Osho (), was an Indian godman, philosopher, mystic, and founder of the Rajneesh movement. He was a controversial new religious movement leader during his life. He rejected institutional religions, insisting that spiritual experience could not be organized into any one system of religious dogma. As a guru, he advocated meditation and taught a unique form called dynamic meditation. Rejecting traditional ascetic practices, he encouraged his followers t

Austrian social reformer, occultist and esotericist (1861–1925)

The Báb (born ʻAlí-Muḥammad; ; ; 20 October 1819 – 9 July 1850) was an Iranian religious leader who founded Bábism, and is also one of the central figures of the Baháʼí Faith. The Báb gradually and progressively revealed his claim in his extensive writings to be a Manifestation of God, of a status as great as Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, receiving revelations as profound as the Torah, Gospel, and Quran. This new revelation, he claimed, would release the creative energies and capacities necessary for the establishment of global unity and peace.

Yogi, Kriya Yoga guru and founder of Self-Realization Fellowship (1893-1952)

English occultist (1875–1947)

Russian occult writer (1831-1891)

Vietnamese Buddhist monk and activist (1926–2022)

Founder of the Church of Satan, author of the Satanic Bible (1930-1997)

Indian writer and spiritual teacher (1931–2007)

systematizer of Spiritism (1804–1869)

Indian spiritual master

founder of the Japanese new religious group Aum Shinrikyo

American cult leader (1931–1978)

Indian spiritual master (1894–1969)

Korean religious leader (1920–2012)

Chinese revolutionary and leader of Taiping Rebellion (1814–1864)

American author, futurist, and agnostic mystic (1932-2007)

Indian spiritual teacher (1923–2011)

Chinese religious leader and dissident

Pakistani Sufi spiritual leader, poet, author

thumb|Birth of the Tirthankara Rishabha, folio from the Devasano Pado Kalpasutra, Kalpasutra and Kalakacharya Katha. Gujarat, c. 1500. [[Bharat Kala Bhavan]] Rishabhanatha (Devanagari: ऋषभनाथ), also Rishabhadeva (Devanagari: ऋषभदेव, ), Rishabha (Devanagari: ऋषभ, ) or Ikshvaku (Devanagari: इक्ष्वाकु, Ikṣvāku), is the first (Supreme preacher) of Jainism. He was the first of twenty-four teachers in the present half-cycle of time in Jain cosmology and called a "ford maker" because his teachings helped one cross the sea of interminable rebirths and deaths. The legends depict him as having lived mil

English physician, activist and feminist (1846–1888)

American neo-Nazi (1933–2002)

English soldier and poet (1583–1648)

Tibetan Buddhist lama and writer (1939-1987)

Sergei Anatolyevitch Torop (; born 14 January 1961), known as Vissarion (, "He who gives new life" or "life-giving"), is a Russian spiritual teacher, self proclaimed reincarnation of Jesus, and founder of the non-profit religious organization , described by many organizations as a cult.

Lithuanian American rabbi (1881-1983)

American pastor and activist (1929-2014)

Austrian publicist (1874–1954)

Prussian rabbi and scholar (1810–1874)

Swedish musician, author, and activist

Colombian writer (1917–1977)

German antisemite, freemason and founder of the Thule Society (1875-1945)

Swiss author and founder of FIGU Organization

Raël (born Claude Maurice Marcel Vorilhon, 30 September 1946) is a French journalist and religious leader who founded and leads the Raëlian Movement, an international UFO religion.

American cult leader (1931–1997)

Indian academic (1838–1884)

Indian spiritual Guru, philosopher, social reformer and composer (1921–1990)

Wovoka ( – September 20, 1932), also known as Jack Wilson, was the Paiute religious leader who founded a second episode of the Ghost Dance movement. Wovoka means "cutter" or "wood cutter" in the Northern Paiute language.

American engineer, author and politician (1918-1993)

Jamaican Rastafari preacher (1898–1981)

Chilean diplomat, nazi and Holocaust denier (1917-2009)

British artist, author, esotericist (1922-2016)

founder of Pastafarianism

US-based international author and peace activist

American leader of Children of God (1920–1994)

Japanese co-founder of the Oomoto religion (1871–1948)

American Charismatic preacher (1873–1929)

American visual and musical artist

American occult writer (1883-1939)

Daughter of Anton LaVey

French freemason

American actor

group of spiritualist sisters

Satanist religious leader (1942–2022)