Basava Jayanti

Syllabus

• Prelims – History (Bhakti Movement)
• Mains- GS 1 (Indian Culture – Salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times)

In News: Basava Jayanti is being celebrated on birthday of Basavanna, a Hindu Kannada poet of 12th century

• Basaveshwara was born in Bagevadi, Karnataka during 1131 AD.
• Basavanna was an Indian 12th-century statesman, philosopher, a poet and Lingayat saint in the Shiva-focused Bhakti movement and a social reformer in Karnataka
• He was appointed as karanika (Accountant) in the initial stage and later as the Prime minister in the Kalchuri king Bijjala’s (1157-1167, AD) court

Contributions

• Basavanna spread social awareness through his poetry, popularly known as Vachanaas.
• He rejected gender or social discrimination, superstitions and rituals.
• He established the Anubhava Mantapa (the “hall of spiritual experience”), which welcomed men and women from all socio-economic backgrounds to discuss spiritual and mundane questions of life, in open.
• It was the first and foremost Parliament of India, where Sharanas (citizens of welfare society) sat together and discussed the socialistic principles of a Democratic set up.
• He developed and inspired a new devotional movement named Virashaivas – heroic worshippers of Shiva
• Basavanna 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 small linga.
• Thus becoming the founding saint of the Lingayat sect
• This approach brought Shiva’s presence to everyone and at all times, without gender, class or caste discrimination

Sharana movement

• The Sharana movement he presided over attracted people from all castes, and like most strands of the Bhakti movement, produced a corpus of literature, the vachanas that unveiled the spiritual universe of the Veerashaiva saints.
• At the Anubhava Mandapa, the Sharanas, drawn from different castes and communities, gathered and engaged in learning and discussions

Previous Year Questions (PYQs)

Q.1) Consider the following Bhakti Saints: (2013)

1. Dadu Dayal
2. Guru Nanak
3. Tyagaraja

Who among the above was/were preaching when the Lodi dynasty fell and Babur took over?

1. 1 and 3
2. 2 only
3. 2 and 3
4. 1 and 3

Q.2) Consider the following statements: (2019)

1. Saint Nimbarka was a contemporary of Akbar.
2. Saint Kabir was greatly influenced by Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2