History of  ... Basaveshwara

     Basava (also known as Basavanna (Kannada: ಬಸವಣ್ಣ) or Basaveshwara (Kannada: ಬಸವೇಶ್ವರ), (1106–1167)) was a philosopher and a social reformer. He fought against practice of caste system and rituals in Hinduism. He is also called as Vishwa Guru and Bhakti-Bhandari. His teachings and preachings go beyond all boundaries and are universal and eternal. He was a great humanitarian. Basava advocated a new way of life wherein the divine experience was the center of life giving equal opportunity to all aspirants regardless of the gender, caste, and social status. The cornerstone behind his movement was the firm belief in a universal concept of God. Basava has a proponent of monotheistic concept of formless God.

     A true visionary with ideas ahead of his time, he envisioned a society that flourished enriching one and all. In addition to being a great mystic, Basava was the Prime Minister of the Southern Kalachuri Empire in South India and originated a literary revolution by introducing Vachana Sahitya. Basava is said to have been a mystic by temperament, an idealist by choice, a statesman by profession, a man of letters by taste, a humanist by sympathy, and a social reformer by conviction. Many great yogis and mystics of the time joined his movement enriching it with the essence of divine experience in the form of Vachanas (Lit. sayings - sacred hymns in Kannada) that define a new way of looking at God and life.

Basava's path later gave birth to a new religion (or "Sampradaya") called Lingavanta Dharma or Lingayata . Other synonyms for lingayata are: Basava Dharma, Sharana Dharma, Vachana Dharma.

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