How Karnataka’s medieval Lingayats challenged caste, oppression of women & toppled empires
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 เม.ย. 2024
- Because medieval Indians didn’t have Constitutions or courts to guarantee their rights, they sang to the gods. And when many people were singing to the gods-potters, weavers, cowherds, cleaners, watchmen-they sometimes sparked off a revolution.
Today in Thinking Medieval, Anirudh Kanisetti explains the origins of the Lingayats or Virashaivas. Today one of Karnataka’s most powerful voting blocs, they began as a 12th century movement that battled caste proscriptions; promoted women’s agency; and worshipped the god Shiva with meat, onion curries and other dietary no-nos.
Historical Note: Harihara does not actually refer to the Lingayat community by their present-day name, or even as Virashaivas. He prefers the more amorphous term sharana, which in his usage approximates “saint”. For ease of watching, “Lingayat” in this video generally refers to the medieval sharana community and not to the present-day Lingayat social group.
Sources:
Ben-Herut, Gil. Śiva's saints: the origins of devotion in Kannada according to Harihara's Ragaḷegaḷu. Oxford University Press, 2018.
Chandra Shobhi, Prithvi Datta. "Kalyāṇa is Wrecked: The Remaking of a Medieval Capital in Popular Imagination." South Asian Studies 32, no. 1 (2016): 90-98.
Ramanujan, Attipat Krishnaswami, ed. Speaking of Śiva. Penguin, 1973.
Shivaprasad, HS. I keep vigil of Rudra: The Vachanas. Penguin UK, 2010.
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Finally a video on Sharanas/Lingayats! Thank you.
There seems to be a LOT of fascinating history surrounding them. I would love to see you make a video on how sharanas toppled the Kalachuri dynasty? I guess such an incident would have created a political vacuum due to a sudden disappearance of an imperial power (like Kalyani Chalukyas or their successors Kalachuris). What were those ramifications? Did the sharana persecution of Vaishnavas and Jains lead to any political changes (lack of an imperial center) in the upcoming centuries, leading to Delhi Sultanate taking over the Deccan?
I would love to see you make a follow up video to this one covering the above topics. Thanks again for these videos! ❤
Very proud for karnataka because we represent lingayat religion. Only religion deserve the status of religion.
Not all the lingayaths worship shiva.... We are lingayths... But our home god is tirupati venkateshwara.... Which is vaishnava god...
You are not a Lingayata
Slowly Jaati has become weaker (at least in Cities), in my village (full of Lingayats), the village temple is "Ranganatha Swamy", Vishnu. By and large doesn't matter.
Yeah i have seen many .........
@@tinguzz read basavanna then call yourself lingayata. Without vachana sahitya no lingayata dharma.
@@SHANSHOW- I am part of this civilization and remain its part. No need to read anything, nothing is absolute in this civilization.
Find historical truth about following:
1. Basaweshwar was born as a brahmin and died a brahmin. He did not establish Lingayat as a cast/ religion. Lingayats already existed long before Basawa, he just mainstreamed them. Vachanas are practical advice for facing day to day social issues.
2. During the bhakti movement there were more than 300 vachanakars in kannada. Basawa was just one of them. It was a German scholar who revived Basawa at the cost of other vachanakars.
3. Basaweshwar was an employee of the king and headed a public relations department. The vacchanas attributed to Basawa may nit be his individual creations but of the employees of the public relations department. After the king removed from his job, overnight he fell silent. Modern science tells us that highly creative people cannot stop abruptly.
4. Can you trace origins of shaivism through history and how it managed to survive as veershaiva/ Lingayats.
Some evidence based historical research should declutter this religion .
Jedara Dasimayya was the first vachanakaara who lived 150 years before Basavanna. But more need of research of the history of Vachana sahitya period. Maybe Basavannana reformer of Shaivism. So he called Martin Luther of Karnataka.
@GuheshwaraPls do historical research and then make video. Are you a historian of some standing?
This is not your comment Versus my comment.
I did not challenge anybody saying what I say is ultimate truth.
Anirudh should have replied/ commented. But he ignored. That means history of Lingayats is not scheduled in the near future.
We lingayats under the leadership of Basavanna bekong to a separate religion because we rejected Sanatani caste system and vedas.
Basavanna was the Minister, why do you want to demean him by calling him a worker. And Who says he stopped abruptly without reason. He was sick and died at a young age.
Lingayats are a sect within Hinduism not a separate religion. There are Christian Denominations like Mormon, Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, Lutheran that all differ in their acceptance of the different gospels of Jesus Christ yet they are all accepted as Christian in a political sense. Why is only in India and especially with Hindus is there a clear agenda to divide sects and panths of Hinduism so that this majority group in India never unites together....Lingayats worship Shiva who is one of the primary Gods in Hinduism and their sense of worship and practices like offering of non-veg items and alcohol is practiced in many other areas of the Indian subcontinent namely, Nepal and Kathmandu valley where Tantric worship is intrinsically linked to daily worship. Yet, only in the Indian context is this slight transcendence regarded as being completely separate. There are many schools of Hinduism that reject discrimination but due to political context Lingayats are regarded as a different religion by some which is completely false.
Because Hinduism is not a real thing. It is literally a thing the Mughals created for people to fill out a census form. Christians are agreed that there is Jesus, there is God, and all that shit, Hindus can't even agree on who their God head is and who is more powerful than whom.
And now they themselves became a caste😢
It was the british who classified Lingayats into a caste which is totally wrong. Lingayatism is inclusive of all castes and religion and is a Hindu dharma 2.0
Ask Congress and they will tell you lingayat is a different religion
@@ravikiranvijaya i am talking about lingayats not lingayatism.
@@ravikiranvijaya Incorrect, it was the British who correctly identified Lingayats as a separate religion and philosophy to Hinduism because of how it rejected Hindu vedic discrimination. It was the post-independence Indian government that made Lingayatism a "caste" under Hinduism even though that is factually incorrect.
@@account2834 Wrong Lingayats are a sect within Hinduism not a separate religion. There are Christian Denominations like Mormon, Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, Lutheran that all differ in their acceptance of the different gospels of Jesus Christ yet they are all accepted as Christian in a political sense. Why is only in India and especially with Hindus is there a clear agenda to divide sects and panths of Hinduism so that this majority group in India never unites together....Lingayats worship Shiva who is one of the primary Gods in Hinduism and their sense of worship and practices like offering of non-veg items and alcohol is practiced in many other areas of the Indian subcontinent namely, Nepal and Kathmandu valley where Tantric worship is intrinsically linked to daily worship. Yet, only in the Indian context is this slight transcendence regarded as being completely separate. There are many schools of Hinduism that reject discrimination but due to political context Lingayats are regarded as a different religion by some which is completely false.
Half baked news. History related to lingayats is very conflicated.
Not the first or last time a brahman created hinduism accessible for poor, lower castes and women. Clearly brahmins could very well see the pain of non-brahmins in not being able to worship their deity.
Thank you for history lesson.
It's irony that lingayat is also now a days merely a cast...
Excellent. ಬಹಳ ಒಳ್ಳೆಯ ಪ್ರಯತ್ನ
And they became a caste. Today if I want to become a Lingayat, orthodoxy will not permit. A low born cannot become a Lingayat. Widows cannot marry. All the hIndu laws of discrimination , applied to them till 1950, alongside all other hindu castes. Basava was responsible for establishing a caste, that is now powerful. They ate meat, but now do not. They have, like muslims and sikhs and christians have adopted caste. You have Ashrafi and Pasmandia muslims, Jat and khatri sikhs along with Mazhabis, Goan Brahmin Christians, Sam Vedic Christians in the East Indian community. Even the DMK is caste ridden. Caste is part and parcel of the Indian fabric, no matter what your religion is.
Half baked story from a half knowledge child... If print is willing to shed some light on lingayath, they would have called some lingayath intellectuals who would give non political views on lingayath..
Bro, am not a Hindu but Ik enough about Lingayats.
And he was presenting one side of the story, of course not full. What do you expect from history focused video?
Chill, everyone knows this is only half.
He is peddling is communist view and he is biased history teller
What was Half baked in the video? Could you elaborate?
Hey Aniruddha,
Great, informational video. I wonder who are the Jangamas in Lingayat community. How did Janagama became a caste in itself in the Veershaiva sect? I heard Basava and some shaivaits tried to create caste free society.
Some Veershaivas say Jangams and Veershaivism exists from time before Basava. Basava just adopted Veershaivism and gave right to people from all sections of society to worship Shiva (because in the varna system by Brahmins lower considered castes were not allowed to worship).
Can you refer me to some reliable material where I can read further on this topic?
I take the books written by devout/passionate Lingayats with a pinch of salt they contain more of opinions than facts.
3:16 wrong spelling & pronunciation .. its actually‘kettitu’ not ‘ketittu’ and neither ‘Káetittu’ as your anglicised pronunciation .
Lingayat was already established before basawana , and lingayat are Hindus who still worships all gods primarily Shiva as there main God. Its just that people accepted him as a reformer and a teacher (a guru) who is teaching righteous path through his Vachanas and he is not the first who introduced Vachana.
Lingayats the medieval Liberals.......? (Of course with huge flaws)
Good one, either with us or our enemy" kind of thinking was always there. Few Sharanas (like Allama Prabhu) were having great spiritual insight and wrote highly complex Vachanas (tough to understand) but masses were always having narrow view.
What was the video about…did you really have something to say
Lingayatism has the potential to become a great religion like Budhism.
Why the hell do you want get separated from Hinduism? We are part of Hinduism.. We worship Shiva..
Lingayat here, why you want to divide hindus 🥲
@@sainikpraveen Shiva denotes God in this geographic location. Guru Nanak used the words Ram and Allah to mention God. That doesn't make Sikhism part of either Islam or Hinduism. What matters is the content. Lingayatism rejects almost everything Hinduism preaches...!
You should rather forgive nanak for misunderstanding the meaning of world Allaha,Besides ,Ram is our historical figure not some God . We worship his values (apex of mankind) and bow down to show our obeisance for such divine values leading is through the course of life
@@ash10k9
@@ash10k9Don't confuse hinduism with brahminical supremacy. Ligayats had issue with Brahmin practices and Jain elitism. The objective was to create an equal but very much Hindu society.
Nice series
Bring back the graphic kurtas Anirudh. Pretty necklace btw.
The Print not good source of information if it's comes to ancient India
When spirituality was taken away from the people in those era. Basavanna who understood the "Tantra" specifically Vigyan bhairav tantra brought those meditation techniques and understanding of tantra to the oppressed people that's when people experienced spirituality. And their spritual comments are called "vachanas". They called themselves "Shiva Sharanas" which simply means who has surrendered to Shiva. Where " Total acceptance and Total surrender" were the main teachings of Tantra
May be you should use the word lingayats over shaivaites.... Shaivaite appropriation of basavanna is not right
Jains were astute aesetics denounced pleasures, they were the foremost teaching religious group that taught philosophy, about medicine, healing, morphology, about other plants and animals about their morphology and characteristics. Then Buddhists followed them in a not so hard life as the Jains. The Shivaites engulfed the Jains as they had the ideology of denouncement from worldly pleasures. Then Buddhists were Philosophically attacked by Brahmins about the idea of 7 cycles of birth to attain moksha ajd liberation.
Nice
We lingayats under the leadership of Basavanna bekong to a separate religion because we rejected caste system and vedas.
Stop spreading lies dumbo
Lingayaths were always Hindus first
It's an interesting question you've posed at the end there Anirudha - can there be progress for all if there is an othering?
I think the question itself implies that progress for everyone else is being restricted by progressive movement and it isn't allowed to spread to the others. I personally don't agree with this characterisation. I think the reality is that people who want to join a progressive movement will do so and it involves leaving behind some of their "cultural heritage" and "religious views".
Can a Vaishnavite Brahmin join a more progressive movement like Lingayatism without leaving their ideas of brahminical purity and superiority? Can a muslim join the movement without believing that non-muslims are inferior and will burn in hell?
Would the Lingayat movement actually lose it's meaning and dilute it's cause if it allowed such people who practise their ideas of superiority while being a part of a progressive movement?
I think it's okay (and even necessary) that liberal movements have hard requirements which people must be expected to meet if they also wish to reap the benefits. I believe this is the case whether it's ಲಿಂಗಾಯತ ಕ್ರಾಂತಿ of that time, or today's progressive movements too. I think liberalism is falsely straw-manned by making arguments that progressive movements should be open to all beliefs and practises or it's not liberalism. This is wrong - liberal movements should have strong boundaries and requirements if they are to truly push the barrier and lead to a more progressive society.
Just my two cents. Great video, glad to see a philosophy I subscribe to being discussed so thoroughly. Hope to see more videos on Karnataka's history!
Very poor-quality research paper the anchor is referring to. There are lot of Indian researchers, especially from Kannada literary world, who have done phenomenal research. Almost all the Vachanas written in "Kannada Dialect", hence little skepticism about author's understanding of poems and vachanas and their interpretations. As a student of Kannada literature and regular reader of literary books including English, I never heard of Nimbavve's story in the way you represented.
Basavanna is great philosopher, socialist,economist thinker
agar lingayt dhram me castism yaa jaatibaad hai too lingyat kee choti jaatioo ko sikhoo aur buddistoo ki trah naukrioo me resarvation yaa arkshan milnaa chaiye.
Hari Hara means Shiva and Vishnu
Veera Shivas means Courageous Shivaites
before writing this you could have connected with any practicing lingayath. bcz there is lots of misinformation in this script.
GREAT COMMIE INTRODUCTION! BETTER KEEP IT TO YOURSE - LVES! Next veerashaivas means that the work is nishkama which they vow for it Nd are called veera or veershaivas. Next the maths were the place people were educated irrespective of castes and were supported by the common people and royalty. So don't tthink like we will follow any doctrine like sheep in other religions! Next eating and socialising OK. But your innuendo of freesex is the paranoia in this guys head? Some nonsense they quote and they think they are masters! This is a trouble maker medi no?😮
Ligayats are Dalits and other lower caste people, adopted and converted to teachings of A brahmin saint BASAVANNA..
As Lingayats rejected non vegetarian food their Jaati status raised with time, but lot of sub Jaatis in Lingayat show many were Dalits.
Basavannana was not Brahman.
😂 nonsense! Lingayats have their own communities - traders (banajigas), ganiga(oil presser), sadara (herders), kudu vokkaliga etc etc etc, people from all castes took up lingayatism not only Dalits
@@JustMe54328 Yes we have people from all Jaatis coming under one umbrella called Lingayat.
@@JustMe54328 Miss Ranjitha...
Iam telling the same...
They were Dalits and other lower caste people started to fallow A Brahmin Saint named BASAVANNA.
Anirudh is an iconoclast!
I am Lingayat but for me Sanatan dharma stands first n then all these subdivisions...
I am Lingayat and Sanatan dharma is a false religion. I like Lingayat dharma more
@@account2834 Are you sure you're not just an ISI troll?
@@qwertyca no I'm a proud Indian, I'm not a blind andhabhakta
@@account2834really? Were u born into a lingayat household ? If so which mutt do u belong to?
Or did u take diksha from any mutt?
Video created out of highly rudimentary knowledge. And quoting a foreign author. The way you present feels like you speak from great understanding, but the words coming out r from a place of shallow information.
ಕೀಟ್ಟಿತು ಕಲ್ಯಾಣ 🥺
1)People have been wearing lingas for more than 1000 years before Basavanna. The Pashupata sutras command a pashupata to wear a linga.
2) Many people throughout Indian (including Kashmiri Brahmins) offer meat as offering to Shiva.
3) Veerashaiva tradition predates Basavanna by a few centuries and Basavanna was born into a Veerashaiva family. He was not the founder of veerashavism.
4) Wearing a linga does not mean you reject the sthavara linga(the linga in the temple). BY wearing a linga, a shaiva is able to keep with the tenant of performing shiva puja three times a day.
5) By converting to certain tradition, certain communities previously lost their untouchable status in certain regions. These are numerous instances of this throughout India, namely the Vishwakarmas of Andhra.
6)The rejection of Vedas is an overstatement. Poetry of renunciation throughout India rejects society, gender, community, county, religion and all things. It speaks of a higher state of consciousness. To think they literally rejected vedas is foolish as all Shaiva traditions their origins to Vedic Pashupatas.
7) A woman in certain agamic/tantric traditions are eligible to give diksha.
8) Shaivas calling vaishnavas untouchable is not surprising as historically they did not dine together nor marry one another. The untouchability is based on acceptable traditions to certain community groups over others rather than a persons birth.
100 years of poor scholarship does not change facts. Looking at the wearing of the linga through the temple entry movement and the whole idea of caste from the lens's of the Hindu society from the 19th century needs to be done away with.
They fought caste and created a new caste called Lingayat....gotcha.
Casteism is rooted in Indians blood🥲
he sounds like a young Shashi tharoor
He is nowhere as close as a orator or even a factual historian. In countless videos, he has been propagating a certain agenda and narrative whilst acting like a messianic new age historian.
And they created another caste
Basavannana was not Brahmin. It is propogenda of Brahmins.
But we'll now it seems quite contradictory and more radical, isn't it?
Have you seen present day's Lingayat cult, its is even more radical, regressive and discriminatory. They are no more campaigner of any Dalit cause, but promote their own high classness.
Heck one of my mate got humiliated and kicked out of house cos he was a Hindu born of mixed caste, Telugite who doesn't know Kannada.
If let loose unquestioned and unchecked this sect would create a whole small Kannada country and wage a war against rest of Indian Republic.
If u hate Hinduism why put a hindu vishnu god name as Anirudh ...put James Peter etc
Hinduism has got bad name because of such comments. Grow up!
Hijacked by the brahmans
U only blame hindu beliefs
If he tries blaming some other beliefs either he will have empty pockets or become six inches short from top.
Where is the blame here? This is the information he has. You can refute or accept. I don't see a reason to bring other religions into the debate. One can't become good by calling another bad.
Modren day romila thapar