Basava
| Basavanna ಬಸವಣ್ಣ |
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|---|---|
ಬಸವ
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| Religion | Hinduism |
| Sect | Lingayat-Shaivism (Hinduism) |
| Known for | Bhakti movement in south India |
| Personal | |
| Born | 1105 CE Basavana Bagewadi, in Bijapur district, Karnataka, India |
| Died | 1167 CE Kudalasangama, Karnataka, India |
| Literary works | Vachanaas |
| Occupation | Statesman, poet, social reformer, philosopher |
Basavanna was a 12th-century Hindu philosopher, statesman, Kannada poet in the Shiva-focussed Bhakti movement and a social reformer during the reign of the Kalachuri-dynasty king Bijjala I in Karnataka, India.
Basavanna spread social awareness through his poetry, popularly known as Vachanaas. Basavanna rejected gender or social discrimination, superstitions and rituals such as the wearing of sacred thread, but introduced Ishtalinga necklace, with an image of the Shiva Liṅga, to every person regardless of his or her birth, to be a constant reminder of one's bhakti (devotion) to Shiva. As the chief minister of his kingdom, he introduced new public institutions such as the Anubhava Mantapa (or, 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.
The traditional legends and hagiographic texts state Basava 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. The Basavarajadevara ragale (13 out of 25 sections are available) by the Kannada poet Harihara (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. A full account of Basava's life and ideas are narrated in a 13th-century sacred Telugu text of Lingayat community, the Basava purana by Palkuriki Somanatha.
Basava literary works include the Vachana Sahitya in Kannada Language. He is also known as Bhaktibhandari (literally, the treasurer of devotion),Basavanna (elder brother Basava) or Basaveswara (Lord Basava).
Basava was born about 1105 CE in the town of Bagevadi in north Karnataka, to Madarasa and Madalambike, an upper caste Brahmin family devoted to Hindu deity Shiva. He was named Basava, a Kannada form of the Sanskrit Vrishabha in honor of Nandi bull (carrier of Shiva) and the local Shaivism tradition.
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