Basavanna Life History In Kannada Pdf
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Ravi was nice enough to send me a photocopy of a book on Basavanna. Narrative entitled Basavarajadevara ragale composed in Kannada language by Harihara. The sect believes that women are not entitled to final liberation in this birth.
Basavanna
Basavanna (ಬಸವಣ್ಣ) was a 12th-century Hindu philosopher, statesman. Live a principled life. History of Kannada Literature: Readership Lectures. Basavanna (ಬಸವಣ್ಣ) was a 12th-century Lingayat philosopher, statesman, Kannada poet in the Niraakaara (i.e. Formless God) Shiva-focussed Bhakti movement and a social reformer during the reign of the Kalachuri-dynasty king Bijjala I in Karnataka, India.
Basavanna was born inBagewadi, a town in Hungund taluk in Bagalkot district (former Bijapurdistrict) of Karnataka. Bagewadi is 20 kilometer away from Hungund. Some historiansopine that Basavanna was born in Ingaleshwar, the parents’ place of Madalambe.
Madaras and Madalambe were parents ofBasavanna. Madaras was town president of Bagewadi. He belonged to Kamme Brahmincommunity. Kamme Brahmins are also called Aradhyas and Smartha Brahmins. Theyare half Brahmins and half Veerashaivas. It is definite that Basavanna was bornin Veerashaiva Brahmin family. Veerashaiva Brahmins are worshippers of PersonalLinga (Istalinga) but they do not wear Linga on their person but keep theirLinga in the pooja room. Madaras and Madalambe were of Veerashaiva-Brahmincommunity.
Lakkanna Dandesh said, Basavanna was bornat mid-night on Monday, Kartik Shudda Purnime of Hindu year ‘ShiddarthiamaSamvatsara’. This Hindu year coincides 1131 A.D. Researchers have concludedthat Basavanna was born during 1131 in Bagevadi/Ingaleshwar. Every year, ‘BssavaJayanti’ is celebrated on Vaishaka Shudda Tritiya, Rohini Nakshatra.
Nagamma was the daughter of Madaras andMadalambe. After her birth, Madalambe did not bear children for long period.She worshipped Nandikeshwara and bore Basavanna. Nagamma was elder to Basavannaby 12 years.
Madalambe was a chaste woman. Madarasaobserved rite of single wife. He was a religious and kind person engaged incharity and was a philanthropist. He was very popular in the society. WhenBasavanna was born to the couple, the new-born baby was still without anymovement. The baby did not cry even. The parents were surprised and wereworrying. In this situation, godly saint Jatavedamuni (Eeshanya Guru)accidentally happened to visit Madaras’s house. He welcomed the Guru withdevotion. The Guru sat by the side of the baby, looked sharply at the baby andsmiled. He breathed with satisfaction saying okay. He wiped the face of thechild with a cloth dipped in warm water, applied bhasma on the forehead, tiedrudrakshi and Linga around the neck. Further, the Guru pronounced Panchaksharihymn in the ears of the baby and called, “Come on Basava, come on.” Hearing thecall, the baby was awakened, moved sidewise, opened the eyes and smiled at theGuru and the parents.
The parents jumped with joy seeing theirchild activated, the mother lifted the child to her lap and breast-fed. Theyplaced the child at the feet of the Guru and uttered, “We dedicate the child toyour grace.” The child was named ‘Basava’ as pronounced by Guru.
The boy Basavanna grew in the company ofhis elder sister Nagamma all the time. Nagamma was not only sister of Basvanna,but she was the catalyst of his revolutionary ideas and moulded him for the missionin his life. It would be proper to call her as his first guru. That was a darkage for women; Nagamma could not advance herself with her thoughts. Sheprompted her brother who was like a ball of fire to implement her aim.
In those days it was the custom that thegirls should be married at the age of 14-16 years. Accordingly, Nagamma wasmarried with Shivadev (Shivaswamy), younger brother of Madalambe. She moved toher husband’s place Ingaleshwar, when Basavanna was 4 years boy. He started towhither with the separation of his beloved sister.
As per the religious tradition, Madarasperformed Uupanayan of Basavanna at his age of 8 years. Upanayana was heldagainst the wish of Basavanna. He could not tolerate it and cut threw theJaniwara put on his body during upanayana. With Linga in his neck blessed bythe Guru at the time of his birth he ran away from Bagewadi. He joined Gurukulaat Kudala Sangama..He did not like to stay with the people floating in thestagnant water of blind beliefs and immoral customs and had migrated toSangama.
Eeshanya Guru was the head of SangameshMonastery at Kudala Sangama. He was the head of free education centre there. Heliked to reform the society including religious heads. He was a highly learnedpersonality engaged in rendering free education, free food and free medicine.without distinguishing between people of his own or outsider, of his religionor other religion. Basavanna spent about ten years in the splendid company ofthe Guru and turned to be a matured man. He was capable of rescuing the oldHindu religion from the peril of all superstitions.
Madaras and Madalambe visited KudalaSangama to meet their son Basavanna and to persuade him to return to Bagewadi.But they failed in their efforts. Basavanna comforted his parents and advisedthem to return to Bagewadi. Disappointed parents entrusted the responsibilityof taking care of Basavanna to their daughter Nagamma before their return. Tofulfill the desire of the parents, Nagamma shifted to Kudala Sangama with herhusband Shivaswamy and her child Channabasava.
Basavanna spent ten years with his Guru inKudala Sangama. He was a youth of 18 years age. He had completed study ofVedas, Puranas, Shastras etc. He had thorough knowledge of Sanskrit and Kannadalanguages. He was disgusted to see ill-culture in the name of God and felt pityfor the illiterate innocent non-Brahmins being deceived in the name of God.Brahmins though literate were committing the same sins like ill-literate non-Brahminsby offering goat as sacrificial animal. Basavanna decided to reform the society to bring an endto such violence. Superstitions should be eliminated. Division of the societyon the base of castes is injustice. He had several such ideas in his mind. To achievehis goal he had decided to remain bachelor.
Ingaleshwara was parents’ place ofMadalambe. She had three brothers, Siddaras, Baladev and Shivadev. Last brotherShivadev had married her daughter Nagamma. Another brother Baladev was ministerin the court of Bijjala in Mangalawad. Baladev had a daughter, Gamgambike. Gangambikehad lost her mother and was brought up as an affectionate daughter of Baladev.She had studied Sanskit, Kannada, Music, Sward-fighting, and Archery. She hadreached marriageable age. Baladev was in search of suitable groom. He had heardthe praise of Basavanna from the people who attended the fare at KudalaSangama.
Neelambike, poster sister of king Bijjalawas intimate friend of Gnngambike, They used to be together all the time. Theyplayed together, ate together and were together almost all the time. Theydesired to be together throught whole life, but how it is possible. It ispossible if they married a single person. Neelambike was also of marriageableage. Gangambike had openly expressed her desire to her father when he began thesearch for the groom.
With a proposal to marry both Gangambikeand Neelambike to Basavanna, minister Baladev visited Kudala Sangama to meetEeshanya Guru. Guru welcomed the minister and heard the proposal from him. Guruthought for a while silently. He knew the decision of Basavanna to remainbachelor dedicating himself to the service of society. Guru felt it would beeasy for Basavanna to achieve his ambition with political support. He calledhim and suggested to marry both Gangambike and Neelambike. Basavanna was not aman to hurt Guru and bowed his head to the suggestion of the Guru. Baladev feltvery happy with the success of his mission. He humbly touched the feet of Guru,had Prasad in the monastery and returned to Mangalawad. Polygamy was a commonpractice in those days.
Marriage of Basavanna with Gangambike,daughter of the minister and Neelambike, sister of the king was celebratedmagnificently. With the blessings of Guru, Basavanna shifted from KudalaSangama to Mangalawad. He stayed in the house of his father-in-law; Baladev. Basavannawho believed in hard work was not comfortable to spend idle time luxuriously inthe minister’s house. He secured a job of Karanik (clerk) in the court ofBijjala and settled separately with his wives, His sister Nagamma had alsoshifted from Kudala Sangama to Mangalwad.
Bijjala was ruling in Manglawad assubordinate of Chalukya king of Kalyana. Basavanna was staying with his familyin Mangalawad working as karanik in the court of Bijjala. He had started hisprogram of social reform slowly in Mangalawad. Chalukya king Tailapa in Kalyanawas a very weak king. Bijjala, being an ambitious person took advantage ofweakness of Tailapa and gained administrative powers of Chalukya kingdom in1154. After the death of Tailapa, he declared himself as the emperor ofChalukya kingdom. Basavanna shifted to Kalyana in 1155 to continue to work askaranik in the court of Bijjala.
A copper plate was traced in the palace of Bijjala
Basavanna was now brother-in-law of theking and Mahamantri. He was an important person in Kalyana deriving respectfrom every one and every where. His program had already started in Mangalwad.He continued it in Kalyana vigorously. Basavanna was youth of 24 years. His attractivepersonality, his nature of selfless service, his attitude of receiving everonewith respect were arrtacting the mass towards him like magnet attracts iron.Basavanna was born in the Veerashaiva Brahmin family. He was adorned withIstalinga by the Guru on his birth. He gave the covering touch of VeerashaivaReligion to his aim of creating a self-complete, all-round decorative community.
The sanatan (ancient) Hindu religion isbased on Karma Doctrine and sanctions Varnashram System i.e. caste systemdividing the society into four groups, Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaisya and Shudra. Brahminsware considered high born and Shudras as low born. It corrupts human springs.Itdoes not speak with one voice to all human beings. Basavanna overruled castesystem. His Bhakti Doctrine denounces the notion of high born and low born; allare equal enjoying equal religious rights.
Till then, area of activity of women wasrestricted to kitchen and bed-room. Women were treated as personal slaves inevery family. Even in that dim age, Basavanna advocated for equal social andreligious right for women.
Basavanna eliminated blind beliefs andsuperstitions. He disliked exploitation of uneducated low born innocent peopleby educated high born Brahmins under the pretext of meaningless religiousrituals.
Basavanna denounced penance or atrociousordeals to body to obtain grace of God. Only zealous devotion can lead to the graceof God.
Basavanna’s concept was, God is impersonaland supernatural power. God is as largeas universe. His size can not be measured even in terms of light-years.
Different religions call God by differentnames. Basavanna passionately held a conviction of ONE GOD. ‘Names many, God isbut ONE’.
Basavanna questioned which religion doesnot believe in Kindness. Kindness is the base of all religions, he advocated.
‘Kayakave Kailas’ (Work is Worship) is theslogan of Basavanna. He salutes the devotee who follows an occupation, howeverhumble. The spirit of Kayaka implies that the work should be done well with asense of dedication and should be done to the glory of Shiva (God).
The following seven Commandments form thepart of code of conduct of the followers of Basavanna:
2…not kill
4…not angerburn thy brow
6…sufferall men
Since hundreds of years, Shudras weresubjected to suppression by Brahmins.They were ill-treated and were serving thehigh born, only for two square meals of the day. The message of social reformaired by Basavanna awakened their hopes. They felt like birds let out of thecase into the free air. They surrounded Basavanna to follow the path showed byhim.
Lakhs of people were visiting Basavanna’shouse every day. His house was called Mshamane (Great House). Free food was servedto the guests everyday. Gangambike, Neelambike and Nagambike were looking afterthe management in the Mahamane.
Basavanna wished that his teachings shouldreach the lettered and unlettered. The corpus of his teachings is embodied insimple verse-form known as Vachanas, composed in common man’s language Kannada.’Kudala Sangama Deva’ is the ankitanama of the vachanas of Basavanna. Vachanascan be read as prose as well as can be melodiously sung. Neelambike used tosing Basava vachanas in musical form.
Vachanas have home-some quality, aresimple, direct with metaphors and analogies drawn from folkways and full ofhomely wisdom of people usually from the most realistic sources. They are deepsprung with spiritual insights and charged with mystic overtones. They arepotent and evocative rather than dry matter statements. Vachanas convey asupernatural experience in the language of everyday visible things. They arecapable of connecting up the minds of hearer with reality.
Basavanna organized ‘Anubhava Mantapa’ (Spiritual Academy
The proceedings in Anubhava Mantapa werequenching the philosophical thirst of spiritual people. Apart from Allama Prabhu,there were several great sharanas like Akka Mahadevi, Siddaram (from Solapur),Madivala Machayya (washerman), Hadapada Appanna (barber), Madar Channayya(harijana), Samagara Haralayya (cobbler), Nuliya Chandayya (weaver), DoharaKakkayy (holeya), Ambigara Choudayya (boatman) etc.
Anubhava Mantapa was a new democraticexperiment, There was no autocracy of anybody there. It is similar to ourparliament in New Delhi today. Only difference is, only political issues arediscussed in the parliament and only religious issues were discussed inAnubhava Mantapa. It is a matter of pride that democracy was born in twelfthcentury only, in Kannada Nadu, first in the world world.
Basavanna’s vision of faith awakened thehearts of millions of the followers to the new conception of God. They feltspiritual fulfillment. His teachings assumed the magnitude of powerful movementand became irresistible for all those who had turned away from old faith. AnnaDasoha (serving free food) was going on in Mahamane and Gnana Dasoha (servingof knowledge) was going on in Anubhava Mantapa. Name of Basavanna was the talkof town in Kalyana.His name had spread far and wide. Popularity of Basavannawas at its zenith.
For any popular work being done, therewould always be people to criticize it. They criticize for the sake tocriticize. Purohitshahi Brahmins feared that their supremacy in the societywould be lost by the social reform program of Basavanna. They planned amachination. They made an allegation to king Bijjala that Basavanna isplundering treasury for anna-dasoha in his Mahamane.
Bijjala was an ambitious person, an egoistic man. He could not toleratethe popularity of his minister. He desired, people in his kingdom should praiseonly him, nobody else. Basavanna may be his brother-in-law, then what? He wasfeeling jealous of his growing popularity. He immediately took action when hereceived complaint against Basavanna for misappropriating funds from thetreasury. He ordered to lock and imprint Mahamane. Sharanas did not sag by theorder of the king. They made alternate arrangements, continued Anna Dasoha asusual. Basavanna declared, “Nanu Bijjalaniganjuvene?” (Am I afraid of Bijjala?)He continued his work of social reform.
Basavanna celebrated the marriage ofSheelavanta, son of Samagar Haralayya (cobbler) with Kalavati, daughter ofMadhuvaras (Brahmin). Both Haralayya and Madhuvaras belonged sharana community.The marriage was quite normal in Sharanas tradition. But it appeared to be aninter-caste marriage between a Brahmin girl and cobbler boy to PurohitBrahmins. Their eyes were already red and waiting for suitable opportunity tofinish off Basava movement.. They aimed to push him out from Kalyana, Kalyanashould be cleaned from sharanas and Vachana literature should be destroyed.They planned a stratagem. A large deligation approached Bijjala carrying taleagainst Basavanna:
“Basavanna’s popularity is growing fastday by day. People may revolt against you to dethrone and he may replace you.Better, you must take precaution now. Please deprive ministership fromBasavanna and deport him from Kalyana.” Already Bijjala was burning withjealousy against Basavanna. The tale carried by the Purohits added fuel to thefire. He called Basavanna to his court, reprimanded him, asked him to resignfrom the ministership and to quit from Kalyana forthwith.
Basavanna was not deterred by the arrogantorder of Bijjala. He lost no time to remove the crown of ministership andplaced it before Bijjala. Be thanked him for his co-operation till then, Heleft Kalyana straight from the palace of Bijjala, without informing any of hisassociates, even his wives. This happened in 1167. Twelve years’ stay ofBasavanna in Kalyana came to an end.
Basavanna had left from Kalyana abruptly.He was undecided about where to go. He came to Kudala Sangama to call on hisGuru. To his misfortune, his Guru was no more; he had already merged withLinga. Basavanna was in great distress. The man who was among lakhs of peopletill now was lonely now. He had left Kalyana without informing even his wives,he felt very sorry. He asked Hadapad Appanna to proceed to Kalyana to bringGangambike and Neelambike to Kudala Sangama.
The situation in Kalyana was dreadful whenAppanna reached Kalyana. The eyes of Haralayya and Madhuvaras were cut removedto make them blind and they were tied to the leg of an elephant and draggedtill death. Both were executed in a brutal manner. Sharanas community wasalready in great distress by sudden separation of Basavanna. They felt greattrauma when Haralayya and Madhuvaras were executed brutally. They could notfurther tolerate when they came to know about the efforts to destroy Vachanaliterature. They revolted. Bijjala was murdered. Sharanas were accused of the king’smurder. Bijjala’s son ordered his military to kill Sharanas. Kalyana waslooking like battle-field.
Sharanas were preparing to vacate Kalyana,Ghana
Appanna returned to Kudala Sangama alone.He narrated the situation in Kalyana to Basavanna who was stunned on hearingthe tragic news. He was under great shock to hear the murder of Bijjala who washis friend apart from being his brother-in-law, atrocities on Sharanas and theefforts to destroy Vachana literature. He could not tolerate the catastrophe.There was nobody around him to console. He could not do any thing. Pronouncing“Saku madai thande lokadatavaninnu” (Oh God, please end my role in this world)he sat for meditation rejecting food and water at the place of confluence of Krishna and Malaprabh rivers. He never got up again, hedied. Pull of womanhood overtook the pull of philosophy on Neelambike atKalyana. She abruptly left for KudalaSangama to join her husband. But it was too late. She could get only thelifeless body of Basavanna sitting in meditation mood.
Some selfish hypocrites were responsiblefor the loss of a precious life of Kannada Nadu. If Bijjala had cooperated withBasavanna in his brave efforts to reform the society, caste system would havebeen totally eradicated in Karnataka. Bijjala’s name would have been recordedin the history with Basavanna if he had dared to advise a few people to mendtheir behavior and Karnataka would have been a model state in the whole country without any castes.
Even in today’s society, every day we comeacross the hypocrites similar to those in Basavanna’s time. One should becautious about them.
Realizing the importance of ‘KalyanaKranti’, statue of Basavanna has been erectedin front of parliament in New Delhi
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