{"id":361409,"date":"2026-04-23T15:28:39","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T09:58:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=361409"},"modified":"2026-04-23T15:28:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T09:58:39","slug":"saint-basaveshwara","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/saint-basaveshwara\/","title":{"rendered":"Saint Basaveshwara"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>News: <\/strong>The Vice President has called upon society to emulate the philosophy of Saint Basaveshwara, who taught us social equality and to serve society.<\/p>\n<h2>About Saint Basaveshwara<\/h2>\n<figure style=\"width: 339px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/media.assettype.com\/deccanherald%2Fimport%2Fsites%2Fdh%2Ffiles%2Farticleimages%2F2021%2F03%2F09%2Fbasavanna-1-960079-1615313766.jpg?resize=339%2C166&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Sant Basaveshwara\" width=\"339\" height=\"166\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: Deccan Herald<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Saint Basaveshwara was<\/span><b> a 12th-century philosopher, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">founding saint of the <strong>Lingayat sect,<\/strong> Kannada <strong>poet<\/strong> and <strong>social reformer<\/strong> during the reign of the <\/span><b>Kalachuri-dynasty king Bijjala I in Karnataka.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He is also known as <\/span><b>Basavanna.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Birth:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> He was born in<\/span><b> Karnataka in 1131 CE.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He <\/span><b>studied Veda, grammar and logic <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">at a young age.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Spritual journey:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> At the age of 8, he removed his sacred thread, saying that he had <strong>Linga deeksha<\/strong> at his birth, and so there was no need for Upanayana.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Then <strong>he went to Kudalasangama,<\/strong> where he studied <strong>under Jatavedamuni.<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He<\/span><b> rose to serve as a minister in King Bijjala&#8217;s Kalachuri court, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">giving his reforms institutional backing.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Philosophy:\u00a0<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He is known for<\/span><b> introducing the Ishtalinga <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(a necklace with a pendant that contains a small Shiva Linga). <\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It<\/span><b> acted as a personal emblem of Lord Shiva<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that completely rejected the need for priestly intermediaries and ritual hierarchies.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He gave <\/span><b>socio-economic principles of<\/b> <b>Kayaka,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which means <\/span><b>Divine work<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>Dasoha,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which means <\/span><b>equal distribution.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Equality in all forms: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He rejected <\/span><b>gender or social discrimination, superstitions and rituals.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> He advocated that every human being was equal, irrespective of caste. According to him<strong>, all forms of manual labour were equally important.<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His <strong>philosophy<\/strong> was based <\/span><b>on the principles of Arivu (true knowledge), ethos (right conduct), and Anubhava (divine experience). <\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This brought a social, religious, and economic revolution in the 12th century.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Veerashaiva movement:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> He <\/span><b>developed and inspired a new devotional movement named Virashaivas,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or \u201cardent, heroic worshippers of Shiva\u201d. This movement shared its roots in the ongoing Tamil Bhakti movement.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Respect towards women:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> In <strong>seven vachanas<\/strong>,<\/span> Basavanna explains<b> how women should be regarded.<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Through these vachanas, he sets moral guidelines for his followers.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Anubhava Mantapa:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Basavanna founded the <\/span><b>Anubhava Mantapa, the first spiritual parliament of India <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to promote a <strong>caste-free society with equal opportunities for all.<\/strong> <\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It served <strong>as a forum for mystics and thinkers to discuss universal human values and ethics.<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Contributions:\u00a0<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His teachings were <strong>universal and timeless,<\/strong> going beyond social boundaries and addressing humanity as a whole.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He <strong>promoted a new way of life centred on personal spiritual experience<\/strong>, where distinctions based on caste, gender, and social status held no importance.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Poetry:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Basavanna spread social awareness through <\/span><b>poetry (Vachanas) s<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">uch as <\/span><b>Shat-sthala-vachana (discourses on the six phases of salvation), Kala-jnana-vachana (forecasts of the future), Mantra-gopya, Ghatna Chakra-vachana, and Raja-yoga-vachana.<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He composed <\/span><b>religious and ethical literature<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the<\/span> local languages, such as<b> Kannada.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Literary Works<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The earliest known account of<\/span><b> Basaveshwara\u2019s life is found in <\/b><b><i>Basavaraj Devara Ragale<\/i><\/b><b>, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">composed by the<\/span><b> Kannada poet Harihara.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A more detailed narration of his life and teachings appears in the <\/span><b>13th-century Telugu text <\/b><b><i>Basava Purana<\/i><\/b><b>, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">written by <\/span><b>Palkuriki Somanatha.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Legacy:\u00a0<\/strong> Every year,<\/span><b> Basava Jayanthi is observed to commemorate the birth of Saint Basavanna.<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He was the<\/span><b> first Kannadiga to be honored <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">with a commemorative coin for his contributions to social reform.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Grand statues such as the <\/span><b>108-foot monument at Basavakalyan and the 111-foot <\/b><b><i>Vishwa Guru Basaveshwara<\/i><\/b><b> statue at Gadag <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">stand as lasting symbols of his ideals and vision.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2015, the <\/span><b>Prime Minister of India inaugurated another statue of Basaveshwara on the banks of the River Thames<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> at Lambeth in London.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b><i>Bharat Mandapam<\/i><\/b><b>, inaugurated in 2023, is inspired by Basaveshwara\u2019s concept of the Anubhava Mantapa<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, reflecting his emphasis on dialogue, equality, and collective wisdom.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: The Vice President has called upon society to emulate the philosophy of Saint Basaveshwara, who taught us social equality and to serve society. About Saint Basaveshwara Saint Basaveshwara was a 12th-century philosopher, founding saint of the Lingayat sect, Kannada poet and social reformer during the reign of the Kalachuri-dynasty king Bijjala I in Karnataka.&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/saint-basaveshwara\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Saint Basaveshwara<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10366,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,11212,12039,11210],"tags":[11872,12085],"class_list":["post-361409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-history-and-art-culture-in-news","category-knolls","category-personalities-in-news","tag-9pm-daily-factly","tag-news-on-air","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10366"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361409\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}