Basavanna

Also called: Basaveshvara, Basava · Topic: Bhakti and Sufi Traditions · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 4 "Turning Tides: The 11th and 12th Centuries"; Class 12, Ch 2 "Bhakti-Sufi Traditions"

Meaning

Basavanna (also called Basaveshvara or Basava, 1106–68) was a Brahmana who served as a minister at the court of a Kalachuri ruler at Kalyani. He left that post to lead the Virashaiva (Lingayat) movement in Karnataka. The movement worshipped Shiva and rejected caste, the idea of "pollution" and empty ritual.

He matters because he gives the clearest example of bhakti challenging the Brahmanical order on social questions as well as religious ones. His vachanas (short sayings in Kannada) and his anubhava mandapa (an open hall for debate) are still part of public life in India today [2][3].

Explanation

Background: who he was and why he broke away

• He was born a Brahmana, the group that held religious authority under the Dharmashastras.
• He rose to become a minister in the court of a Kalachuri ruler at Kalyani (today Basavakalyana, Karnataka).
• He left his post to lead a religious movement.
• He turned away from the court and its rank-based society.

• He reached out to people whom the caste system pushed to the margins.

• Bhakti was already strong in the south at this time. Its forms included Ramanuja's Shrivaishnavism in Tamil Nadu. Basavanna took a much sharper route, against caste.

Main beliefs and practices of the Virashaivas

• Names of the followers:
• Virashaivas means "heroes of Shiva".

• Lingayats means "wearers of the linga".

• Worship: they worship Shiva only in the form of a linga (a plain symbol of Shiva), not as an image shaped like a human.

• Sign of faith: men wear a small linga in a silver case on a cord over the left shoulder.
• Jangama: wandering monks who beg and teach. Lingayats honour them.
• Death and rebirth, as a chain of ideas:
• The devotee unites with Shiva at death and does not return.
• So Lingayats question the idea of rebirth.

• So they bury their dead with ceremony and do not cremate them, which goes against the Dharmashastras.

• Caste and "pollution": they rejected caste ranking. They also rejected the idea of pollution (the belief that a person becomes impure through birth or touch). This drew many marginalised people into the movement.

• Social rules the Dharmashastras disliked but the Lingayats supported:
• Post-puberty marriage, meaning girls married as adults, not as children.
• Widow remarriage.

The anubhava mandapa: how the movement worked

• Basavanna set up the anubhava mandapa ("pavilion of experience") at Kalyani.
• It was an open assembly. Men and women of any social, economic, religious or language background could come and speak.
• What it taught:
• All men and women have equal spiritual potential.

• Personal devotion and dedicated work go together. Prayer and honest labour are both part of worship. This idea was later called kayaka (work as worship).

• Today it is often described as an early parliament, or an early democratic platform for open debate [2][3].

Results and legacy

• Vachanas: the movement's ideas spread through short free-verse sayings in Kannada, so ordinary people could understand them without Sanskrit.
• Women's voices: both women and men of the movement wrote vachanas. This was rare for the period.
• Lasting community: the Lingayats remain a large community in Karnataka today.
• Basava Jayanti is celebrated in Karnataka every year. His vachanas have been translated into 23 languages [2][3].
• Bharat Mandapam (the convention centre at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi) is officially said to be inspired by the Anubhava Mantapa [3].

Time, place and evidence

• Period: 12th century. Basavanna lived 1106–68.
• Dynasty: he served a Kalachuri ruler.
• Place: Kalyani, now Basavakalyana in Karnataka. The anubhava mandapa was also at Kalyani.
• Key people:
• Basavanna, the leader.
• The jangamas, wandering monks.

• The women and men who composed vachanas.

• How we know about him:

• The vachanas in Kannada are the main source for Virashaiva ideas.
• NCERT covers him in Class 12, Ch 2 "Bhakti-Sufi Traditions", and Class 7, Ch 4 "Turning Tides".
• Official records: Government of India (PIB) releases on Basava Jayanti [2] and the PM's speech at the opening of Bharat Mandapam [3].
• An early study, "Basavesvara and His Times", has been digitised on the Government of India's Indian Culture portal [4].

Don't confuse with

• Ramanuja (Ramanujacharya): a Tamil Brahmana thinker of Shrivaishnavism who worshipped Vishnu and taught vishishtadvaita (qualified non-dualism). He worked inside the temple and Sanskrit tradition. Basavanna worshipped Shiva as a linga and worked outside the temple and caste order.
• Abhangs: devotional songs in Marathi by the sants of Pandharpur (Vitthala shrine), from the 13th century. Vachanas are Kannada sayings of the Virashaivas from the 12th century.
• Nayanars: earlier Tamil Shaiva poet-saints. Both groups worshipped Shiva, but the Virashaiva movement was Kannada-speaking, from Karnataka, and openly rejected caste, rebirth and cremation.
• Kalyani (Karnataka) vs other places named Kalyani: Basavanna's Kalyani is Basavakalyana in Karnataka, the Kalachuri court. Do not confuse it with Kalyani in West Bengal.

Prelims Hooks

• Basavanna (1106–68) was a Brahmana minister of a Kalachuri ruler at Kalyani, which is modern Basavakalyana, Karnataka.
• Virashaiva = "heroes of Shiva". Lingayat = "wearers of the linga". Jangama = wandering monk.
• Lingayats bury their dead and do not cremate them, because they believe the devotee unites with Shiva and is not reborn. MCQ trap: a statement that "Lingayats followed Dharmashastra funeral rites" is wrong.
• Language match: vachanas → Kannada; abhangs → Marathi.
• Anubhava mandapa at Kalyani was an open assembly called an early democratic platform [2][3]. Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, is said to be inspired by it [3].
• Lingayats supported widow remarriage and post-puberty marriage, both of which the Dharmashastras disapproved of.

Mains Points

• Religious protest that was also social reform: Basavanna's movement broke with Brahmanical religion and Brahmanical society in a single step.
• It rejected caste, "pollution", rebirth and cremation.
• It backed widow remarriage and post-puberty marriage.

• It is the standard GS-I example of bhakti challenging the social order from within.

• Religious authority opened to more people: the vachanas put religious teaching into Kannada instead of Sanskrit. The anubhava mandapa let men and women of all backgrounds take part in debate. Together they moved religious authority away from a Brahmana monopoly [2][3].

• Two routes of southern reform: Ramanuja reformed inside the temple and Sanskrit framework through vishishtadvaita. Basavanna worked outside it through an anti-caste community. Comparing the two shows how varied bhakti was. His use today, in Basava Jayanti and the naming of Bharat Mandapam, shows how medieval reformers are used as symbols of Indian democratic heritage [2][3].

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