BASAVA

 12th Century Socialist and Religious Reformer

 by Kwesi Bacchra

© NTP Trust July 1997

India's greatest gift to the world in the 21st century could well be a social system that couples a deep sense of spirituality with a sensitivity to the needs of the poorer masses while permitting economic and political progress. It is after all the home of four of the world's great religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism, while having nurtured Islam since the 12th century and Christianity since St Thomas arrived in India as a missionary in the first century.

However Hinduism, which is followed by 83% of the population of India, embraces a multitude of sects, the beliefs of some being so divergent as to suggest a completely different religion. Such a sect is Veerashaivism, the devotees of which worship no multiplicity of gods or stone images but instead the Linga as a symbol of the sole and unique deity, Siva. Found mostly in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, the forty million Veerashaiva followers, or Lingayats as they are otherwise known, are opposed to the caste system, eschew temples and priestcraft, bury their dead and do not believe in reincarnation.

The Linga, very ancient examples of which have been found in the ruins of the 3rd millennium BCE Indus Valley civilisation at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, has been incorrectly and disdainfully described in western dictionaries and encyclopaedias as no more than a phallic symbol. According to Lingayat teachings, nothing could be further from the truth. Although there are many of different sizes and other materials, the Linga usually found in monasteries and at village sites is usually of polished black stone formed as a cylinder of about 12 inches diameter with a spherical top and having a height of about 18 inches (45 cm). In its near shapelessness it represents the universal, infinite, timeless and eternal force, the extent of which is beyond Man's comprehension.

The prime exponent of the Lingayat doctrines was the remarkable 12th century saint and guru, Basava, who, because of his absolute honesty, had been promoted to the position of First Minister in charge of the treasury by King Bijala of the Chalukian dynasty, who ruled over most of what is now the state of Karnataka. Although born into a Brahmin family, he had refused to wear that caste's golden cord unless his sister could do the same, a proposal which was anathema to the priestly caste which regarded all women as inferior and little better than untouchables.

Basava (1105-1167) as a religious reformer taught his followers that they had no need of temples, priests or idols and that, by wearing a small black Linga (an Ishtalinga) in a 'karadige' (casket) around the neck and paying meditational respect to it several times a day as well as leading an exemplary life, they could aim eventually to achieve an absolute state of self-realisation, so becoming themselves the embodiment of divinity. The disciples of Basava learned the principles of 'Kayaka', the holiness of work, and 'Dosoha', the principle of donating any surplus income beyond one's needs to the community. His religious teachings he wrote as poetry called vachanas in the local language, Kannada, on hundreds of palm leaves and so started a literary revolution as many of his devotees over the next 300 years followed suit. In the main these were only ordinary, uneducated folk of both sexes who were inspired by a social and religious philosophy which is now claimed to have considerable relevance to the political problems of the modern world.

Combining his political authority, his religious philosophy and his rigid egalitarianism with a deep concern for the impoverished conditions of the dispossessed he saw all around him, Basava in 1141 founded the Anubhava Mantapa, the first Speaker-led Parliament, one hundred years before Simon de Montfort established England's own first Model Parliament, then just a council of nobles. This evolved into what Englishmen now claim to be the ''Mother of Parliaments'', although only admitting women less than a century ago. The Anubhava Mantapa was from the beginning open to all irrespective of caste, profession, status, gender, colour or age, and amongst the most important debates were those on how to achieve the emancipation of women and the elimination of caste discrimination.

Such a socialistic and anti-clerical agenda, promoted by a man so close to the King, aroused a great deal of anger amongst those who were jealous of his position and fearful of the loss of their privileged life-styles. Following the marriage approved by him of a Brahmin woman with a man who was an untouchable Sudra, which was permitted according to Basava's teachings, his enemies plotted against him forcing him to flee to his spiritual home at Kadula Sangama. There he was either brutally murdered or, it is claimed, achieved 'Aiyoka', the yogic voluntary separation of the spirit from the body and unity with the Deity. Following this the followers of Basava were massacred, and devotees of the religion were persecuted for centuries.

However the ideals of Basava, both political and religious, are beginning to enjoy a renaissance especially since large numbers of Lingayats have migrated to Europe and North America. His political ideals present a significant social agenda which, although they have been compared to Marxism, incorporate the spirituality which the followers of Karl Marx rejected. Thus modern followers argue that Basavism may offer to disillusioned socialists a political creed which, while retaining the principle of "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need", does not lose the importance of the individual, while total equality of each person remains paramount. Indeed, while on a visit to what was then the state of Mysore, Mahatma Gandhi said of Basava, "If I could achieve one tenth of what he has been able to do, I would be more than happy".