Basavanna

(1106–67/68) Poet-saint and religious
leader in the Lingayat community, a
bhakti (devotional) group that worships Shiva as the single supreme God
and rejects all caste regulations. The
Lingayats were formed in the southern Indian state of Karnataka where
they still have a considerable presence, and the collections of poetry
that form their most important religious texts are composed in the
Kannada language. According to tradition, from his youth Basavanna was
a great devotee (bhakta) of Shiva,
whose piety was so intense that he
rejected all notions of ritual and caste.
After spending much of his youth as a
religious seeker, Basavanna became
minister to a king named Bijjala.
Basavanna used his position’s wealth
and influence to care for Shiva’s wandering devotees (jangama), and
Bijjala’s court became a magnet for
many important figures, including the
poet and religious leader Allama
Prabhu. Basavanna’s patronage was
vital in forming the Lingayat community, and as a token of his importance,
the suffix anna (“elder brother”) was
attached to his name, Basava. As the
Lingayat community grew stronger,
their public opposition to ritual worship and caste distinctions generated
intense hostility from more traditional groups. This conflict finally came to
87
Basavanna
a violent head when the fledgling
Lingayat community apparently arranged
a marriage between an untouchable boy
and a brahmin girl. Traditionalists
became so enraged that they executed the
bride and groom’s fathers. The Lingayat
community was dispersed, and
Basavanna died soon afterward. For further information see A. K. Ramanujan
(trans.), Speaking of Siva, 1973.