Basaveshwara (1131-1168 A.D.), born in Bagevadi in Bijapur district of Karnataka State in India was the founder of the Lingayat/Veerashaiva religion. The aspirations which every generation across the world cherish like social justice, female emancipation, dignity of labour, equality in laws, a democratic society built on rational ideals were all foreseen by Basaveshwara way back in the 12th century A.D., when he launched a socio-religious movement to built a society based on the above ideals.
Devotee par excellence
Sri Basaveshwara was called Bhakti Bhandari by his followers and such was his devotion to God that in one of his vachanas he asks Kudalasangamadeva to make him lame so that he may not wander here and there, to make him blind so that his eyes do not stray, to make him deaf, so that he may not hear any thing to keep him from desiring another thing, except the feet of the Lord. In another vachana he says – “O Lord, make me a parrot in this worldly forest and put me in the cage of devotion and make me utter Shiva, Shiva”. He compares worldly life to a lamp exposed to blowing wind and wealth to a gathering of crowd in a market place. Don't trust them and worship Kudalasangamadeva, he urges.
Basaveshwara’s religion based on equality and fraternity
Basaveshwara preached equality and said that there is none lesser than me and none greater than the devotees of Shiva. He declares that man’s worth should be judged not by his birth but by his thoughts and deeds, by his conduct and character. In one of his vachana he says - “ The earth which is the home of untouchables and temples is one and the same. The water which is used for washing dirt and ablution is one and the same. Similarly for those who worship Kudalasangamadeva, caste is one and the same for all ”. In another vachana he says - “One who kills is a Madiga (name of an untouchable caste), one who eats filth is a Holeya (name of an untouchable caste). For Shivasharanas (devotees of Shiva), who wish good for all creatures, all are of higher castes”.
Mediators have no role in Basaveshwara’s religion
To Basaveshwara, the temple represented institutionalism of the rich and the bigoted. He and his colleagues categorically stated that no Veerashaiva should build a temple, nor should he enter a temple as God in the form of Ishta-Linga was on one’s own body and He resided in one’s heart in His true form. In one of his vachana Basaveshwara says- “Those who have money build temples. What can I build being a poor man. My legs are its pillar, my head its golden pinnacle. There is destruction for what stands still but not for that which moves”. Thus Basaveshwara was able to do away with temple-cult and priest-craft which had become the centres and means of exploitation. Condemning those who would pay and get worship done by others, Basaveshwara in one of his vachana says – “Can the pleasure of one’s mating and eating one’s food be assigned to another? The daily ritual worship of one’s Linga is to be done by oneself. Can this be assigned to another? Those who do it casually do they know you Kudalasangamadeva”.
Basaveshwara’s religion based on high moral standards
Love of mankind, pity for mankind, pity indeed for all life was the central fact of Basaveshwara’s religious teachings. Compassion was the base of his religion as evidenced by his vachana which says- “Lord without compassion can there be any religion? There must be compassion for all creatures as compassion itself is the root of religion. Anything otherwise is unacceptable to Kudalasangamadeva”. Basaveshwara denounced meaningless rituals and taught simple and sensible practices conducive to a clean and good life. He gave the highest priority to unimpeachable character, an upright conduct, politeness, abstaining from violence, speaking truth, pleasing manners and clean habits.
Similarities between Basaveshwara and other prophets of ancient India
Ancient India had seen the rise of various religious movements led by prophets like Sri Krishna, Buddha and Mahavira. Though the time gap between these prophets referred above and Basaveshwara are centuries apart there are a lot of similarities between the teachings of Basaveshwara and that of the teachings of Sri Krishna, Buddha and Mahavira.
Krishna’s Nishkamakarma and Basaveshwara’s Kayaka
Karma marga or nishkamakarma that is action without desire or expectation is one of among different paths to obtain salvation as enunciated by Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. Sri Krishna stressed the importance of performance of duty in a detached way. So also to Basaveshwara kayaka was work done with absolute detachment and to fulfill the needs of both the individual and the society. He was of the view that no individual should be a burden to the society and everyone should take up some job of his choice and perform it sincerely. The shivasharanas of the Veerashaiva movement followed different professions. Machayya was a washer man, Muddaiah was a cultivator, Ramanna was a cowherd, Sangaiya was a hunter, Chennayya a shoe maker and Maraiya was a firewood seller. It was from the contribution from the shivasharanas that Basaveshwara used to arrange dasoha (lunch) for the jangamas, who were liberated souls moving from place to place to preach Lingayat philosophy. In Basaveshwara’s concept of kayaka no occupation was superior or inferior to another and it was honesty and sincerity which decided the merit of the means of livelihood.
Means to secure the grace of God
Sri Krishna in Bhagavad Gita chapter 13, verse seven says that one attains supreme bliss if he does not have pride, is free from hypocrisy, non-violent, has forbearance, uprightness of speech and mind and control over senses. Similarly Basaveshwara said that internal and external purification can happen if one abstains from injuring others, getting angry, speaking untruth, despising or criticizing others and praising oneself and this was the key to secure the grace of God.
Basaveshwara followed the footsteps of Buddha by instructing his doctrines through vernacular
Buddha explained his simple doctrines in Pali, the language of the people and it attracted the masses as spiritual truths were made available to them in the language understandable to them. Similarly the mystics and reformers of the Veerashaiva movement sought for a popular medium for their self-expression as well as for the spread of the tenets of the new faith. Thus arose the vast literature in simple and forceful Kannada prose known as vachana literature. Basaveshwara according to Masti Venkatesh Iyengar made the first great effort in Karnataka to employ the mother tongue of the people for original statements of high thought and religion.
Denied intermediaries between bhakta and God
According to Buddha neither a sacrifice to gods can wash away sin or any prayer of a priest. Hence the intercession of the priestly class was futile for a man to change his destiny. The same view was shared by Basaveshwara who said that worship is a personal communion between the devotee and the god. There should be no mediator between the Linga and Bhakta and to arrange worship done by others in temples has no virtue.
Ahimsa and Vegetarianism
One of the cardinal principles of Jainism is ahimsa or non-violence. All objects, animate or inanimate possess life and feel pain on the infliction of injuries. Therefore Jainism stresses the need of non-injury to any kind of living being however low may be the state of its evolution. The same principle was upheld by Basaveshwara and love and compassion were the watch-words of his philosophy and religion. Like Jains, the Lingayats abhor meat eating and are strict vegetarians.
Empowerment of Women
Apart from the similarities of ideals which Basaveshwara had with the earlier religious reformers of ancient India, we find the movement led by Basaveshwara addressing various socio-religious issues not dealt with by the above religious reformers. For instance, for the first time in the history of the world, women were given an important place in religious and social life. Unlike the leaders of other religious faiths Basaveshwara did not consider women as an obstacle for spiritual advancement or preached celibacy for spiritual aspirants. Hence we find way back in the 12th century A.D. subaltern women discussing and debating in public forums with men and their sayings (vachanas) recorded for posterity. Some of the women who were associated with the shivasharana movement were Akkamahadevi, Akkanagamma, Sommavve, Ranimahadevi, Muktayakka, Kalavve, Bonthadevi, Guddavve and Thayamma.
Originator of Self-respect Movement
Another revolutionary aspect of Basaveshwara’s movement was to infuse a high level of self-confidence to its adherents. Whatever may be their vocation or caste affiliation, once a person became a Veerashaiva, his confidence level was amplified and he considered himself inferior to none. Madivala Machayya a Veerashaiva was a fiery man and was not afraid of even the king. It is said that he refused to wash the clothes of the royal family and walked in the streets of Kalyana sounding a bell and announcing that he would punish any bhavi (non-Veerashaiva) who touched him. This act of Machayya was in retaliation for a rule imposed on untouchables who were expected to announce their arrival in the town by some kind of signaling. In one of his vachanas Basaveshwara says that none is inferior to him and no one is superior to a Shiva bhakti. Hence becoming a Veerashaiva meant leveling of one’s status in a hierarchical society.
Both Basaveshwara and Ambedkar favoured Upanishads to Vedas
According to Basava a man’s worth should be judged not by his birth but by his thoughts and deeds, by his conduct and character. He condemned the caste ridden society and raised his voice of protest against the fourfold division of the Hindu society. While accepting the truth revealed in the Upanishads, Basaveshwara vehemently protested against the rituals prescribed in the Vedas and the priest-craft responsible for it. He defied the varnashrama dharma and supported the marriage of the daughter of Madhuvarasa, a Brahmin with the son of Haralayya, a Dalit.
Similarly in a prepared speech to be delivered at the 1936 Annual Conference of the Jat-Pat-Todak Mandal of Lahore, Babasaheb Ambedkar said that the Hindu religion, as contained in the Vedas and the smritis, is nothing but a mass of sacrificial, social, political and sanitary rules and regulations, all mixed up. What is called religion by the Hindus is nothing but a multitude of commands and prohibitions. If Hinduism has to become a true religion, in the sense of spiritual principles, truly universal, applicable to all races, to all countries, to all times, it should have a new doctrinal basis —a basis that will be in consonance with liberty, equality and fraternity, in short, with democracy. But I am told that for such religious principles as will be in consonance with liberty, equality and fraternity it may not be necessary for you to borrow from foreign sources and that you could draw for such principles on the Upanishads. Ambedkar while mentioning the names of Ramanujacharya and Kabir as persons who had worked for the abolition of caste and untouchability has not made any reference to Basaveshwara. Probably he was not aware of the teachings of Basava and his religion; may be due to lack of translation of Basaveshwara’s works in other languages especially English. If Ambedkar had been aware of the tenets of Basava dharma, he would surely have embraced the Lingayat religion.
According to P.B.Desai, Basaveshwara was an unyielding advocate of social reform, a courageous fighter against orthodoxy, ignorance and vested interests, a relentless crusader against shams and superstitions, an upholder of dignity of man, a champion of equality of persons with faith and character, an establisher of a new religious and social order, a literary genius, a mystic and a saint who fulfilled his mission and left a trail of its flame for the enlightenment of posterity. Dasoha or free feeding and establishment of mutts for imparting education are some of the legacy of the Veerashaiva movement led by Basaveshwara.