Lingayat

Kannada-speaking religious community
whose members are devotees (bhakta)
of the god Shiva, and who mainly live in
the southern Indian state of Karnataka.
Lingayat roots began in the seventh century with the Nayanar poet-saints in
Tamil Nadu state, migrating northward.
The community’s founder was the poetsaint Basavanna; others included
390
Linga
The Lingaraja Temple in Bhubaneshvar. Built in the eleventh century,
the temple exemplifies the Orissan branch of the Nagara architectural style.
Allama Prabhu and Mahadeviyakka.
The community’s founding members
were driven by the hunger for God and
were impatient with anything that got in
its way—worship of images, caste distinctions, or the demands of family life.
These early influences have continued
to shape Lingayat culture. Lingayats do
not use images in their worship. The
only symbol they use is the linga of
Shiva, which all Lingayats wear as a sign
of membership in the community. The
Lingayats have also largely retained
their founders’ egalitarian principles.
Although the community eschews caste
distinctions, there are higher-status
priestly families known as jangamas,
from whom the celibate monks known
as viraktas are often drawn. In practice,
this egalitarian emphasis has made the
entire Lingayat community a jati, one of
the endogamous social subgroups that
make up larger Indian society; the difference is that the Lingayats are not
marked by their occupation, but by their
membership in a particular religious
community. The Lingayats are the dominant community in modern Karnataka,
both in terms of traditional landholding
patterns and in their control over
regional politics. For further information see A. K. Ramanujan, Speaking of
Siva, 1973; and Sivalingayya
Channabasavayya Nandimath, A
Handbook of Virasaivism, 1979.