Great Devotees of Lord Siva 65A

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Om Namah Sivaya Sri Basavanna Basavanna was the great Vira Saiva socio-religious teacher. He was also known by the names Basavaraja, Basavesvara. He was a deep thinker. He brought about vital changes in social adjustment and thought. He was the Saivite reformer of the Karnataka state in South India. He gave the present form to the cult known as Sivachara. He flourished in the twelfth

century. He was born in a Brahmin family. He left the practices of his own community as they were too ritualistic and formal. Basava grew up in a strict, religious household where he was made to wear a sacred thread known as the Janivara. He did not accept the Janivara. He rejected the religion based on agamas, shastras, and puranas which were written in Sanskrit and was not reachable to common people. He did not accept the ritual rites. But Vachanas are basically essence of Vedas written in simple spoken Kannada language. Common people could easily understand the content of any Vachanas. He left Bagewadi and spent the next 12 years studying Sangameshwara, at the then-Saivite stronghold of Kudala Sangama. There, he conversed with scholars and developed his spiritual and religious views in association with his societal understanding. His views included

believing there is only one true, perfect God; additionally, he created people who perform social services like removal of untouchabilty, superstitiousness, confusions, temple culture, and priesthoodness. He believed people who were in search of a false god needed to be shown the right way. He preached equality among humankind and condemned all barriers of caste, creed and sex, fighting against the caste system. He is also known as Krantikari (revolutionary) Basavanna for his revolution in the social system of the 12th century. Basava started his career as an accountant at Mangalaveda in the court of Kalachuri king Bijjala, a feudatory of the Kalyani Chalukya. When Bijjala acquired the power at Basavakalyana, by overpowering

Tailapa IV(the garandson of Vikaramaditya VI, the great Chalukya king), Basavanna also went to Kalyana. With his honesty, hardwork and visionary mission, Basava rose to the position of Prime Minister in the court of king Bijjala, who ruled from 1157—1196 at Kalyana (presently renamed as Basavakalyana). There, he established the Anubhava Mantapa, a spiritual parliament to openly discuss Lingayatism, which attracted many saints from throughout India. He believed in the principle 'Work is heaven'; kayakave kailas one step ahead of Ravindranath Tagore's 'work is worship'. It was at this time that the Vachanas, simple and easy-to-understand poetic writings which contained essential teachings, were written. Below is one of the thousands of Vachanas that were produced: The power of knowledge destroys ignorance; The power of light dissipates darkness; The power of truth is foe of all untruth; The sharana's experience of god is the sole cure of worldliness; - Lord Kudala Sangamadeva Basava created much controversy by actively ignoring the societal rules

associated with the caste system, which he wished to abolish. By allowing untouchables to have lunch at his residence and praising the historic marriage of a Brahmin woman and an untouchable man, Basava caused orthodox members of King Bijjala's court to go to the King with such stories, some true and some false. Bijjala, afraid of a possible uprising in orthodox society, ordered the newly married couple to be harshly punished. Before punishing the couple Bijjala asked Basava to agree with caste system; but Basava strongly opposed caste system and said, both Haralayya and Madhuvaras were lingayats and the rules of caste system of Vaidika Dharma are not applicable to them. With Vaidik influence, Bijjala did not agree Basavanna's ideas; and asked Basavanna to be silent and accept the punishment to couple or leave Kalyana. The "Being punished" Danda-gonda Basavanna left Kalyana with heavy heart and marched towards Kudala Sangama. He left Kalyana in 1195 A.D. for Kudala Sangama

and en route to Kudala sangama, he preache the people about the humanity, morality, honesty, simplicity, and the dignity of labour, equality among all human beings, human rights etc. He was a reformer. He became the leader of the Vira Saiva movement. He established a cult that is accepted today by many people. It developed a school of poor priests. It abolished the old priestly class. It adopted the vernacular as the medium for inculcating the supreme truth into the people. It gave to women an important place in religious and social life. It prescribed one ideal of realisation for every individual, high or low. Basavanna made great sacrifice for Truth. People accepted him as a teacher. His sayings have come straight from his heart. They go straight to the heart. They are simple, direct, powerful. His rules of conduct are lofty and admirable. He was a

sincere seeker after Truth and could make great sacrifices for attaining the Truth. He was all love and kindness. Love for all life or universal love was the central teaching of Basavanna. Being a perfect yogi he released the bonds of the body and soul and took Lingaikya (Maha Samadhi) in the year 1196 in response to the call from the Almighty Siva. Sivaya Namah

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