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Basava: The Pure Rebel from Karnataka

Dr. M. V. Kamath

My dear Gauri,

Of all the saints and singers, and poets of Karnataka, the one who was the most daring and paid the most was Basava.

Basava was the pure rebel, the Martin Luther King of Karnataka who had not merely the courage of his convictions but came to his convictions through spiritual grace.

Basava was born a Brahmin. That was both his strength and weakness. Strength because only a Brahmin could dare condemn rituals. Weakness because it made him a target of hatred of the conservatives. From his boyhood he seems to have been in open clash with his elders on the relevance of rituals.

Basava went to Kudala Sagama (the confluence of the Krishna and the Malaprabha rivers) to study the Vedas, the Agamas and the Shastras only to realize the futility of metaphysics. Having come to the conclusion that empty rituals were a waste, he strove for reform. The people among whom he lived were caste-ridden, but Basava saw no difference between man and man; say, between a Brahmin and pariah- an untouchable. In his eyes all men were the same.

He gave his sermons in what came to be known as the Anubhava Mantapa, the Academy of Experience. The Mantapa was open to anyone who cared to attend it, regardless of birth or sex or position. Whoever came enjoyed equal status. Among those who came to the august assembly were men from diverse trades and professions such as Machayya the washerman, Ketayya the basket-weaver, Chaudayya the oarsman and Appanna the barber. And presiding over the Mantapa was an even greater leader, Allama Prabhu. It was Allama Prabhu who gave Basava the spiritual strength and the backing necessary to resist the religious Establishment of the time.

For all his intellectual achievements, Basava was a humble man. His prayer to his God of the Confluent Waters (Kudala Sangama Deva) is one of the most beautiful prayers:

The rich build temples to Siva

But poor me! What can I do?

My legs are my pillars

My body itself is the temple;

My head the golden cupola

For hear me, O Lord

What is must go; what was endures.

Basava’s lyrics are called vachanas. They are full of philosophical content. In the truest sense, Basava was the Great Liberator. He was a minister under the king and accustomed to exercising power. So great was his fame that people from all over India came to listen to him like Urilingadeva from Maharashtra, Nannayya from Orissa and Sivalenka Manchanna from Benaras. King and commoner, Brahmin and untouchable, men and women, came, listened to him and were changed. It was only when what he preached was practiced, i.e., when a Brahmin maid who had embraced Basava’s Veerashaiva faith married a cobbler’s son, that all hell broke loose. Basava had to leave Kalyana where he lived, to return to Kudala Sangama and there to join his Lord of the Confluent Waters.

Though Basava has gone, he had made a tremendous impact on the social mores of his times and Veerashaivism has lasted.

In my next letter I shall be writing about some more saints of India.

Your loving,

Ajja