Anubhava Mantapa

Topic: Bhakti and Sufi Traditions · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 4 "Turning Tides: The 11th and 12th Centuries"

Meaning

The Anubhava Mantapa (also written anubhava mandapa, "pavilion of experience") was an open assembly that Basavanna set up at Kalyani (today Basavakalyana, Karnataka) in the 12th century. In it, men and women of every social, economic, religious or linguistic background could meet and speak about spiritual and social questions.

It matters because it opened religious debate to people the Brahmanical order kept out, such as women and the lower castes. Today it is often called an early parliament or an early democratic platform [3][4].

Explanation

Background: why Basavanna needed an open forum

• Basavanna (also called Basaveshvara, 1106–68) was a Brahmana and a minister in the court of a Kalachuri ruler at Kalyani.
• He left his post to lead a new religious movement.
• His followers were called:
• Virashaivas ("heroes of Shiva").

• Lingayats ("wearers of the linga"). Men wear a small linga in a silver case, on a cord over the left shoulder.

• The movement went against Brahmanical rules:

• It rejected caste ranking and the idea of "pollution", the belief that birth or touch can make a person impure.

• It supported widow remarriage and post-puberty marriage (girls married as adults, not as children). The Dharmashastras (Brahmanical law-books) did not approve of either.

• A message like this needed a meeting place:

• Temples and Sanskrit learning were controlled by Brahmanas.
• Basavanna's followers included many people pushed to the margins of society.
• So he set up a place where anyone could speak. That place was the Anubhava Mantapa.

Main features

• Open to all. Men and women of every social, economic, religious or linguistic background could attend and speak.
• Equal spiritual potential. It taught that all men and women can reach God equally. Birth, caste or sex does not decide this.
• Devotion plus work. Prayer had to go together with honest, dedicated labour. This idea was later called kayaka (work done as worship).
• Talk in the people's language. Ideas were shared in Kannada through vachanas (short free-verse "sayings"), not in Sanskrit.
• Women's voices. The vachanas were written by both women and men. This was rare for the period.

How it worked

• It was an assembly for open debate, not a temple with a priest at the centre.
• Devotees shared their own spiritual experience (anubhava). The forum's name comes from this.
• Its teaching matched the vachanas. One famous line by Basavanna says that people feed the stone image but turn away the hungry living devotee. To him, the living person was the real temple.
• The Lingayats also honoured the jangama (wandering monks who begged and taught). Religious teaching moved through people, not through temple ritual.

Results and legacy

• Religious authority moved away from the Brahmana monopoly. A regional language combined with an open assembly let ordinary people take part in religious discussion.
• Modern memory:
• It is widely described in India as an early parliament or early democratic platform [3][4].
• Basava Jayanti is marked every year in Karnataka, and Basavanna's vachanas have been translated into 23 languages [3][4].
• Bharat Mandapam, the convention centre at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, is officially said to be inspired by the Anubhava Mantapa [4].

Time, place and evidence

• Period: 12th century. Basavanna lived 1106–68.
• Place: Kalyani, the court of a Kalachuri ruler. Today this is Basavakalyana, Karnataka.
• Key person: Basavanna / Basaveshvara, founder-figure of the Virashaiva (Lingayat) movement.
• How we know:
• Vachanas: short Kannada sayings by men and women of the movement. They are the main source for Virashaiva ideas.
• "Basavesvara and His Times": an older study of Basavanna, now digitised on the Government of India's Indian Culture portal [5].

• Modern official records: PIB releases on Basava Jayanti [3] and the PM's speech at the Bharat Mandapam inauguration [4]. Both describe the Anubhava Mantapa as an early democratic forum.

• NCERT: Class 7, Ch 4 "Turning Tides: The 11th and 12th Centuries". The Virashaiva movement is also covered in Class 12, "Bhakti-Sufi Traditions".

Don't confuse with

• Bharat Mandapam: a modern convention centre at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. It is only inspired by the Anubhava Mantapa [4]. It is not the 12th-century assembly at Kalyani.
• Ramanuja's Srirangam centre: Ramanuja worked inside the temple and Sanskrit tradition, at the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple [2]. Basavanna's Anubhava Mantapa worked outside temple ritual and caste order.
• Vachanas vs abhangs: vachanas are Kannada sayings of the Virashaivas (Karnataka, 12th century). Abhangs are Marathi songs of the sants of Pandharpur (Maharashtra, from the 13th century).
• Virashaiva vs Shrivaishnava: Virashaivas worship Shiva only as a linga (Basavanna). Shrivaishnavas worship Vishnu with Shri (Lakshmi) (Ramanuja) [2].

Prelims Hooks

• Anubhava Mantapa: set up by Basavanna at Kalyani, today Basavakalyana, Karnataka.
• Basavanna (1106–68): a Brahmana minister of a Kalachuri ruler, who left his post to lead the Virashaiva movement.
• Virashaiva = "heroes of Shiva". Lingayat = "wearers of the linga". Jangama = wandering monk.
• Vachanas are in Kannada and were written by both men and women. Basavanna's vachanas have been translated into 23 languages [3][4].
• Bharat Mandapam (Pragati Maidan, New Delhi) is officially said to be inspired by the Anubhava Mantapa [4].
• Trap: Lingayats bury their dead (they reject rebirth). They do not cremate. They supported widow remarriage and post-puberty marriage.

Mains Points

• An early democratic space in medieval India: the Anubhava Mantapa let people of every caste, class and sex speak in public on religious and social questions. It is often called an early parliament [3][4]. It is useful for answers on the roots of democratic and egalitarian values in Indian heritage.
• Religious reform as social protest: the Virashaivas rejected caste, "pollution" and Dharmashastra rules, and gave women a voice in the vachanas. The open assembly put this protest into practice. Religious authority moved from Sanskrit and Brahmanas to Kannada and ordinary devotees.
• Two routes of southern reform: Ramanuja reformed from inside the temple and Sanskrit frame through vishishtadvaita [2]. Basavanna reformed from outside it through the Anubhava Mantapa and the vachanas. Comparing the two shows how varied the bhakti movement was. The Marathi sant tradition from the 13th century shows it then spreading to Maharashtra.

Related concepts

• Adi Shankaracharya
• Advaita Vedanta
• Shankaracharya mathas
• Ramanuja
• Vishishtadvaita
• Madhvacharya
• Haridasa movement
• Purandara Dasa
• Kanaka Dasa
• Annamacharya

Read more

• Reforming the south: Ramanuja and the Virashaiva tradition