Jagajyoti Basava | |
|---|---|
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| Personal life | |
| Born | 1131[1] |
| Died | 1196[1] (aged 65) |
| Known for | Socio-religious reforms,Anubhava Mantapa,Vachana literature, Women empowerment movement in South India, Founder ofLingayatism |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Hinduism |
| Sect | Lingayat Shaivism|Veerashaiva Lingayat (Sharana)[2][3] |
| Religious career | |
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| Lingayatism |
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Basava (1131–1196), also calledBasavēśvara andBasavaṇṇa, was an Indian philosopher, poet,Lingayat social reformer in the Shiva-focusedbhakti movement, and aHinduShaivite[4]social reformer during the reign of theKalyani Chalukya and theKalachuri Dynasty. Basava was active during the rule of both dynasties, but his influence peaked during the reign of KingBijjala II inKarnataka,India.[2][5][6]
Basava spread social awareness through his poetry, popularly known asVachanaas. He rejected gender or social discrimination, superstitions and rituals[1] but introducedIshtalinga necklace, with an image of thelingam,[7] to every person regardless of their birth, to be a constant reminder of one'sbhakti (devotion) to Shiva. A strong promoter ofahimsa, he also condemnedhuman andanimal sacrifices. As the chief minister of his kingdom, he introduced new public institutions such as theAnubhava Mantapa (or, the "hall of spiritual experience"),[8] which welcomed men and women from all socio-economic backgrounds to discuss spiritual and mundane questions of life, in open.[9]
The traditional legends and hagiographic texts state Basavanna to be the founder of the Lingayats. However, modern scholarship relying on historical evidence such as the Kalachuri inscriptions state that Basava was the poet philosopher who revived, refined and energized an already existing tradition.[1][2][10] TheBasavarajadevara Ragale (13 out of 25 sections are available) by the Kannada poetHarihara (c. 1180) is the earliest available account on the life of the social reformer and is considered important because the author was a near contemporary of his protagonist.[11] A full account of Basava's life and ideas are narrated in a 13th-century sacred Telugu text, theBasava Purana byPalkuriki Somanatha.[12]
Basava literary works include theVachana Sahitya inKannada Language. He is also known asBhaktibhandari (lit. 'the treasurer of devotion')[13] andBasavanna.
Basava was born in 1131 CE[1] in the town of Basavana Bagewadi in the northern part ofKarnataka, to Maadhavarasa and Madalambike, a Kannada OrthodoxBrahmin family[14] devoted to the Hindu deity Shiva.[10][13][15] He was named Basava, a Kannada form of the SanskritVrishabha in honor of Nandi bull (carrier of Shiva) and the local Shaivism tradition.[15]
Basava grew up inKudalasangama (northwest Karnataka), near the banks of rivers Krishna and its tributary Malaprabha.[10][13] Basava spent twelve years studying in the Hindu temple in the town of Kudalasangama,[13] at Sangameshwara then a Shaivite school of learning, probably of theLakulisha-Pashupata tradition.[15]
Basava married Gangambike,[13] a cousin from his mother's side. Her father was the provincial prime minister of Bijjala, theKalachuri king.[10][15] He began working as an accountant to the court of the king.[13] When his maternal uncle died, the king invited him to be the chief minister. The king also married Basava's sister named Nagamma.[10]
As chief minister of the kingdom, Basava used the state treasury to initiate social reforms and religious movement focussed on reviving Shaivism, recognizing and empowering ascetics who were calledJangamas.[10] One of the innovative institutions he launched in the 12th century was theAnubhava Mantapa, a public assembly and gathering that attracted men and women across various walks of life from distant lands to openly discuss spiritual, economic and social issues of life.[9] He composed poetry in local language, and spread his message to the masses. His teachings and verses such asKáyakavé Kailása (Work is the path toKailasa [bliss, heaven], or work is worship) became popular.[16]
Several works are attributed to Basava, which are revered in the Veerashaiva Lingayat community. These include variousVachana[1] such as theShat-sthala-vachana (discourses of the six stages of salvation),Kala-jnana-vachana (forecasts of the future),Mantra-gopya,Ghatachakra-vachana andRaja-yoga-vachana.[17]
TheBasava Purana, a Telugu biographical epic poem, first written byPalkuriki Somanatha in 13th-century,[18] and an updated 14th century Kannada version, written byBhima Kavi in 1369, are sacred texts in Veerashaiva Lingayat.[2][19]
Other hagiographic works include the 15th-centuryMala Basava-raja-charitre and the 17th-centuryVrishabhendra Vijaya, both in Kannada.[10]
Scholars state that the poems and legends about Basava were written down long after his death.[18] This has raised questions about the accuracy and creative interpolation by authors who were not direct witness but derived their work relying on memory, legends, and hearsay of others. Michael states, "All 'Vachana'collections as they exist at present are probably much later than the 15th-century [300 years post-Basava]. Much critical labor needs to be spent in determining the authenticity of portions of these collections".[20]
Basava grew up in a Shaivite family.[10][13] As a leader, he developed and inspired a new devotional movement namedVirashaivas, or "ardent, heroic worshippers of Shiva". This movement shared its roots in the ongoing TamilBhakti movement, particularly the ShaivaNayanars traditions, over the 7th- to 11th-century. However, Basava championed devotional worship that rejected temple worship and rituals led by Brahmins and replaced it with personalized direct worship of Shiva through practices such as individually worn icons and symbols like a smalllinga. This approach brought Shiva's presence to everyone and at all times, without gender, class or caste discrimination.[8][21] Basava's poem, such as Basavanna 703, speak of strong sense of gender equality and community bond, willing to wage war for the right cause, yet being a fellow "devotees' bride" at the time of their need.[22]
A recurring contrast in his poems and ideas is ofSthavara andJangama, that is, of "what is static, standing" and "what is moving, seeking" respectively. Temples, ancient books represented the former, while work and discussion represented the latter.[23]
The rich
will make temples for Shiva,
What shall I,
a poor man do?
My legs are pillars,
the body the shrine,
the head a cupola of gold.
Listen, O lord of the meeting rivers,
things standing shall fall,
but the moving ever shall stay.
— Basavanna 820, Translated by Ramanujan[24]
Basava emphasized constant personal spiritual development as the path to profound enlightenment. He championed the use of vernacular language,Kannada, in all spiritual discussions so that translation and interpretation by the elite is unnecessary, and everyone can understand the spiritual ideas.[8] His approach is akin to theprotestant movement, states Ramanuja.[23] His philosophy revolves around treating one's own body and soul as a temple; instead of making a temple, he suggests being the temple.[23] His trinity consisted ofguru (teacher),linga (personal symbol of Shiva) andjangama (constantly moving and learning).
Basava established, in 12th-century,Anubhava Mantapa, a hall for gathering and discussion of spiritual ideas by any member of the society from both genders, where ardent devotees of Shiva shared their achievements and spiritual poems in the local language.[8] He questioned rituals, dualism, and externalization of god, and stated that the true God is "one with himself, self-born".
How can I feel right
about a god who eats up lacquer and melts,
who wilts when he sees a fire?
How can I feel right
about gods you sell in your need,
and gods you bury for fear of thieves?
The lord Kudalasangama,
self-born, one with himself,
he alone is the true god.
— Basavanna 558, Translated by Ramanujan[25]
While Basava rejected rituals, he encouraged icons and symbols such as the wearing ofIstalinga (necklace with personal linga, symbol of Shiva), ofRudraksha seeds or beads on parts of one body, and applyVibhuti (sacred ash on forehead) as a constant reminder of one's devotion and principles of faith.[26] Another aid to faith, he encouraged was the six-syllable mantra,Shivaya Namah, or theshadhakshara mantra which isOm Namah Shivaya.[26]
The Basava Purana, in Chapter 1, presents a series of impassioned debates between Basava and his father.[27] Both declare HinduSruti andSmriti to be sources of valid knowledge, but they disagree on themarga (path) to liberated, righteous life. Basava's father favors the tradition of rituals, while Basava favors the path of direct, personal devotion (bhakti).[28]
According to Velcheru Rao and Gene Roghair,[28] Basava calls the path of devotion as "beyondsix systems of philosophy. Sruti has commended it as the all-seeing. the beginning of the beginning. The form of that divine linga is the true God. Theguru [teacher] of the creed is an embodiment of kindness and compassion. He places God in your soul, and he also places God in your hand. The six-syllabledmantra,[29] the supreme mantra, is its mantra. The dress – locks of hair, ashes and rudrashaka beads – place a man beyond the cycle of birth and death. It follows the path of liberation. (...) This path offers nothing less than liberation in this lifetime."[28]
Sripati, a Virasaiva scholar, explained Basava's philosophy inSrikara Bhasya, using theVedanta Sutra, suggesting Basava's Lingayat theology to be a form of qualified nondualism, wherein the individualAtma (soul) is the body of God, and that there is no difference between Shiva and Atma(self, soul), Shiva is one's Atma, one's Atma is Shiva.[26] Sripati's analysis places Basava's views inVedanta school, in a form closer to the 11th centuryVishishtadvaita philosopherRamanuja, than toAdvaita philosopherAdi Shankara. However, Sripati's analysis has been contested in the Virasaiva community.[26]
Modern scholarship relying on historical evidence such as the Kalachuri inscriptions state that Basava was the 12th-century poet-philosopher who revived and energized an already existing tradition.[1][2][10] The community he helped form is also known as theSharanas. The community is largely concentrated inKarnataka, but has migrated into other states of India as well as overseas. Towards the end of the 20th century, Michael estimates, one-sixth of the population of the state of Karnataka, or about 10 million people, were Veerashaiva Lingayat or of the tradition championed by Basava.[16] Veerashaiva Lingayat constitutes around 17% of Karnataka's population and has dominance over 100 out of 223 constituencies. Among the total of 23 chief ministers that Karnataka had since 1952, 10 were fromLingayat community.[30]
Basava taught that every human being was equal, irrespective of caste, and that all forms of manual labor was equally important.[31] Michael states that it wasn't birth but behavior that determined a true saint and Shaiva bhakta in the view of Basava and theSharanas community.[3] This, writes Michael, was also the position of south Indian man, that it was "behavior, not birth" that determines the true man.[3] One difference between the two was that Sharanas welcomed anyone, whatever occupation he or she might have been born in, to convert and be reborn into the larger family of Shiva devotees and then adopt any occupation he or she wanted.[3] Basava insisted onahimsa or non-violence and vehemently condemned all forms ofsacrifices,human oranimal.[32][33]
Basava is credited with uniting diverse spiritual trends during his era. Jan Peter Schouten states thatVirashaivism, the movement championed by Basava, tends towards monotheism with Shiva as the godhead, but with a strong awareness of the unity of theUltimate Reality.[34] Schouten calls this as a synthesis of Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita and Shankara's Advaita traditions, naming itShakti-Vishishtadvaita, that is monism fused with Shakti beliefs.[34] An individual's spiritual progress is viewed by Basava's tradition as a six-stageSatsthalasiddhanta, which progressively evolves the individual through phase of the devotee, to phase of the master, then phase of the receiver of grace, thereafter Linga in life-breath (god dwells in their soul), the phase of surrender (awareness of no distinction in god and soul, self), to the last stage of complete union of soul and god (liberation,mukti).[34] Basava's approach is different fromAdi Shankara, states Schouten, in that Basava emphasizes the path of devotion, compared to Shankara's emphasis on the path of knowledge – a system of monisticAdvaita philosophy widely discussed in Karnataka in the time of Basava.[35][36]
Jessica Frazier et al. state that Basava laid the foundations of a movement that united "Vedic with Tantric practice, and Advaiticmonism with effusiveBhakti devotionalism."[37]
Basava advocated the wearing ofIshtalinga, a necklace withpendant that contains a small Shiva linga.[31] He was driven by his realization; in one of his Vachanas he saysArive Guru, which means one's own awareness is his/her teacher. Many contemporary Vachanakaras (people who have scripted Vachanas) have described him asSwayankrita Sahaja, which means "self-made".
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