FAQ

Basavanna (c. 1131–1167 CE) was a 12th-century Kannada poet, philosopher, statesman, and social reformer from Bagewadi in present-day Karnataka. He served as Prime Minister (Mahamantri) to King Bijjala II of the Kalachuri dynasty in Kalyana — one of the most powerful courts in peninsular India at the time.

He is the founding figure of the Lingayat movement and the Vachana literary tradition. Basavanna rejected caste hierarchy, idol worship, and empty ritual, and founded the Anubhava Mantapa — an open assembly where spiritual truth was arrived at through direct experience, not inherited authority. His ankita (devotional pen name) was ಕೂಡಲಸಂಗಮದೇವ — "the lord of the meeting rivers", referring to the god at the confluence of the Krishna and Malaprabha, where he died.

Read the full history of Basavanna.

Lingayatism is a monotheistic religious tradition founded in 12th-century Karnataka by Basavanna. It centres on devotion to Shiva as the sole supreme being (called Linga), represented by the Ishtalinga — a small personal linga worn on the body at all times.

Lingayats reject caste distinctions, the authority of the Vedas, idol worship in temples, and the concept of ritual pollution. The tradition is built on three philosophical pillars: Kayaka (work as worship), Dasoha (sharing as liberation), and the Anubhava Mantapa (the assembly of direct spiritual experience).

It has an estimated 10–15 million followers, concentrated primarily in Karnataka. Explore what Lingayat life looks like in practice.

This is a contested question with no single answer. Lingayatism emerged as a deliberate reform — and in many ways a rejection — of core Hindu practices, including caste hierarchy, the authority of the Vedas and Brahmin priests, temple idol worship, and the cycle of rebirth. Basavanna and the Sharanas explicitly challenged the religious establishment of their time.

Many Lingayat scholars and community leaders argue that Lingayatism is an independent religion, not a sub-sect of Hinduism. Others see it as a reformist tradition within the broader Shaiva fold. The Government of India currently classifies Lingayats as Hindu for census purposes, but the community itself is divided on this question — and the debate has significant political dimensions in Karnataka.

Veerashaivism is an older Shaiva tradition that predates Basavanna. It accepts the Vedas, contains a caste hierarchy within it, and venerates the Panchacharyas — five founding masters of the tradition. Lingayatism as articulated by Basavanna explicitly rejects caste, Vedic authority, and Brahmin mediation, treating the Ishtalinga and direct personal experience as the only valid spiritual path.

Many Lingayats insist the two are distinct traditions. Others — particularly within Veerashaiva institutions — use the terms interchangeably or claim Lingayatism is a branch of Veerashaivism. The distinction matters deeply to many Lingayats who see Basavanna's radical egalitarianism as fundamentally incompatible with Veerashaiva orthodoxy.

Vachanas (ವಚನ, literally 'sayings' or 'utterances') are short prose-poems composed by the Sharanas — the saint-poets of the 12th-century Lingayat movement. Written in Old Kannada, each ends with the poet's ankita, a signature invoking their personal deity.

Vachanas address themes of devotion, caste, labour, gender, death, ego, and the nature of the divine — often in direct, conversational language deliberately accessible to ordinary people. Basavanna is believed to have composed over 1,000. Together with contributions from Akka Mahadevi, Allama Prabhu, Devara Dasimayya, and hundreds of other Sharanas, they form one of the most radical bodies of devotional literature in Indian history.

The Ishtalinga (ಇಷ್ಟಲಿಂಗ) is a small, egg-shaped linga — a representation of Shiva — that every Lingayat wears on their body at all times, typically in a silver case on a cord around the neck. It is given to a Lingayat at birth or initiation by a Jangama (a wandering Shaiva saint or initiated teacher).

The Ishtalinga is not merely a symbol — it is the object of daily personal worship (puja), held in the palm and meditated upon each morning. The theology behind it is radical: it makes each individual their own priest and their own temple, eliminating the need for a Brahmin intermediary, a temple building, or a distant deity. The divine is literally carried on the body. Read more in the philosophy section and in Lingayat Life.

Kayaka (ಕಾಯಕ) is one of the three central philosophical pillars of Lingayatism. It holds that all honest work — regardless of trade or social station — is an act of worship. The cobbler at his bench, the weaver at her loom, the farmer in the field: all are equally engaged in sacred activity.

This was a direct rejection of the idea that certain occupations were spiritually inferior or ritually polluting — a cornerstone of the caste system. Kayaka also carries an ethical dimension: you earn only what you genuinely need. The surplus flows outward as Dasoha. Kayaka and Dasoha are not separate ideas but two movements of the same practice: work with full attention, give with full openness.

Dasoha (ದಾಸೋಹ) is the Lingayat principle of sharing — the practice of offering what is earned beyond one's genuine needs to others, particularly to Jangamas and those in need. It is not charity in the conventional sense; it is understood as a structural part of the spiritual life. You earn through Kayaka; you share through Dasoha. To hoard is to obstruct the flow of grace.

Basavanna himself practiced Dasoha in his role as Prime Minister, redistributing court wealth and maintaining open houses for wandering Jangamas. Today Dasoha is expressed in the community meals served at temples, Mathas, and during Basava Jayanti celebrations.

Lingayats bury rather than cremate their dead, in a practice called Mahasimhasana — the great lion seat. The body is placed in a seated meditation posture with the Ishtalinga in the hands, and buried in the earth, often with a basil plant at the site. The grave becomes a samadhi — a place of sacred rest.

The reasoning follows from Lingayat theology: a devoted Lingayat has, through spiritual practice (described in the Shatsthala framework), dissolved the boundary between the self and Shiva. The soul is not trapped in the body awaiting release through fire — it has already been liberated. There is nothing left to burn. This practice also eliminates the lengthy rituals of mourning and pollution that accompany Hindu cremation, consistent with Basavanna's broader rejection of ritual complexity. Read more in Lingayat Life.

The Anubhava Mantapa (ಅನುಭವ ಮಂಟಪ, 'Hall of Experience') was a spiritual assembly convened by Basavanna in 12th-century Kalyana. It brought together Sharanas from every social background — cobblers, weavers, women, wandering mystics, ministers, and scholars — to discuss spiritual questions through direct experience rather than textual authority.

Its presiding figure was Allama Prabhu. Akka Mahadevi, Devara Dasimayya, and hundreds of others participated. It operated on one radical premise: anyone who has genuinely experienced the divine has the right to speak — regardless of caste, gender, or learning. It is sometimes called the world's first democratic spiritual parliament. The vachanas composed in and around this assembly form its literary record. Read more in the philosophy section.

Akka Mahadevi (c. 12th century CE) was one of the most celebrated Sharanas of the Lingayat movement and one of the earliest known female poets in Kannada literature. She is said to have renounced a forced marriage to a local king and wandered as a naked ascetic — wearing only her long hair — in total devotion to Chennamallikarjuna (Shiva as the beautiful lord of Mallikarjuna).

Her vachanas are among the most powerful in the entire corpus — marked by fierce intensity, erotic mysticism, and an absolute refusal to accept any worldly authority. She was admitted to the Anubhava Mantapa after a famous exchange with Allama Prabhu, who tested whether her renunciation was genuine. Her life is a living argument that in the Lingayat tradition, gender placed no limits on spiritual authority.