Lingayat movement

Also called: Virashaivism, Lingayatism, Virashaivas, Lingayats · 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

The Lingayat movement (also called Virashaivism) was a religious and social reform movement. Basavanna (1106–68) led it in 12th-century Karnataka. His followers worshipped Shiva only as a linga, rejected caste and the idea of "pollution", questioned rebirth, and buried their dead instead of cremating them.

It matters because it is the standard example of bhakti (loving devotion to God) fighting Brahmanical social rules. It gave religious authority to ordinary people, to women and to the Kannada language.

Explanation

Background: who started it and why

• Basavanna (also called Basaveshvara), 1106–68, was a Brahmana by birth.
• He was a minister in the court of a Kalachuri ruler at Kalyani (today Basavakalyana, Karnataka).
• He left his court post to lead a religious movement.
• Why people joined:
• Brahmanical society ranked people by caste. It called some people "polluted" (impure because of their birth or touch).
• Basavanna rejected both ideas.

• So many people pushed to the margins of society joined him.

• His followers got two names:

• Virashaivas, meaning "heroes of Shiva".
• Lingayats, meaning "wearers of the linga".

Main beliefs and practices

• Worship of Shiva only as a linga. A linga is a rounded stone symbol of Shiva. Followers did not worship a human-shaped image.
• Wearing the linga: men wear a small linga in a silver case on a cord over the left shoulder.
• Jangama: they respect the jangama, wandering monks who beg and teach.
• Death and rebirth, step by step:
• The devotee unites with Shiva at death and does not come back.
• So Lingayats question the whole idea of rebirth.

• So they bury their dead with ceremony instead of cremating them. This goes against the Dharmashastras (Brahmanical law-books).

• Social rules the Dharmashastras disliked but the Lingayats supported:

• Post-puberty marriage: girls married as adults, not as children.
• Widow remarriage.

How it worked: the anubhava mandapa and the vachanas

• Anubhava mandapa ("pavilion of experience"): Basavanna set it up at Kalyani.
• It was an open assembly. Men and women of every social, economic, religious or linguistic background could come and speak.
• It taught that all men and women have equal spiritual potential.
• It joined personal devotion with dedicated work. Prayer and honest labour go together. This idea was later called kayaka.

• In India today it is often called an early parliament or early democratic platform for open debate [2][3].

• Vachanas ("sayings"): short free-verse lines in Kannada.

• Both women and men of the movement composed them, which was rare for the period.
• In a famous line, Basavanna says people feed the stone image but turn away the hungry living devotee. The living person is the real temple.

Results and legacy

• It made a clean break from Brahmanical rules: caste, pollution, funeral customs and marriage rules were all challenged together.
• It moved religious authority from Sanskrit to Kannada and from priests to an open assembly.
• It lives on today:
• Basava Jayanti is marked every year in Karnataka.
• Basavanna's 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: the 12th century. Basavanna lived 1106–68.
• Dynasty: the Kalachuris. Basavanna served a Kalachuri ruler as minister.
• Place: Kalyani, now Basavakalyana, Karnataka. This was the court and the site of the anubhava mandapa.
• Key figure: Basavanna / Basaveshvara, along with the women and men who composed vachanas.
• How we know:
• The Kannada vachanas are the main source for Virashaiva ideas.
• A colonial or early-modern study, "Basavesvara and His Times", has been digitised on the Government of India's Indian Culture portal [4].

• Official records such as PIB releases on Basava Jayanti and the Bharat Mandapam inauguration show how the tradition is remembered today [2][3].

• NCERT: Class 7, Ch 4 "Turning Tides"; Class 12, Ch 2 "Bhakti-Sufi Traditions".

Don't confuse with

• Ramanuja and Shrivaishnavism: Ramanuja (c. 1000–1100, Tamil Nadu) worshipped Vishnu and reformed bhakti from inside the temple and the Sanskrit tradition through vishishtadvaita ("qualified non-dualism"). Basavanna worshipped Shiva as linga and worked outside the temple and caste system.
• Abhangs of the Maharashtra sants: abhangs are Marathi songs from Pandharpur (Vitthala's shrine), from the 13th century. Vachanas are Kannada sayings from 12th-century Karnataka.
• Nayanars: the earlier Tamil Shaiva saints who sang hymns at temples. The Lingayats were a Kannada movement that rejected image-worship, caste and rebirth.
• Virashaiva vs Lingayat: these are not two movements. They are two names for one tradition: "heroes of Shiva" and "wearers of the linga".

Prelims Hooks

• Basavanna (1106–68): Brahmana minister of a Kalachuri ruler at Kalyani (modern Basavakalyana, Karnataka).
• Lingayats bury their dead, not cremate, because they reject rebirth. This goes against the Dharmashastras.
• The linga is worn in a silver case over the left shoulder. Jangama means wandering monk.
• Vachanas → Kannada; abhangs → Marathi (Pandharpur, 13th century). This is a common matching trap.
• Anubhava mandapa at Kalyani was an open assembly called an early democratic platform [2][3]. Bharat Mandapam is officially said to be inspired by it [3].
• Lingayats supported post-puberty marriage and widow remarriage. Both were disliked by the Dharmashastras. Watch for "which of the following" options that reverse this.

Mains Points

• Religious reform and social protest were one act:
• Rejecting caste, "pollution", Dharmashastra funeral rules and child marriage was both a religious and a social challenge.

• This makes Virashaivism the standard example of bhakti questioning the Brahmanical order.

• Opening access through language and assembly:

• The vachanas put religious teaching into Kannada, not Sanskrit, and women composed them as well as men.
• The anubhava mandapa let people of all backgrounds debate in the open.

• Together, these moved religious authority away from the Brahmana monopoly [2][3].

• Two routes of southern reform in the same era:

• Ramanuja reformed bhakti inside the temple and Sanskrit tradition.
• Basavanna reformed it outside them.
• This contrast, and the way today's state presents Basavanna (Basava Jayanti, Bharat Mandapam), shows that medieval reform still shapes ideas of equality and democratic debate in India [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