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Knowledge Nugget: Panchamasali Lingayat
subject: History and Politics
Why in the news?
Earlier this week, a large number of Panchamasali Lingayats, a sub-caste of Karnataka’s dominant Lingayat community, staged a mass demonstration. Karnataka Regarding their demand in the legislative complex in Belagavi where the winter session is going on incorporation Panchamasalis in the 2A OBC category — which provides 15% reservation — instead of their existing 3B category with a 5% quota.
Key takeaways:
1. Lingayats are a dominant community comprising about 17% of Karnataka’s 6 crore population. Officially classified as the Hindu sub-caste ‘Veerashaiva Lingayats’, the Lingayats are followers of the 12th century philosopher-saint Basavanna.
2. The rise of Lingayat Sampradaya can be located in the larger trend of Bhakti movement which spread across South India from the 8th century onwards.
3. At present, the Lingayat community is an amalgamation of several sub-castes. Among these, Panchamasalis are the largest, accounting for about 70% of the Lingayat population. They claim to number about 85 lakhs, or about 14% of Karnataka’s population of about six crores.
4. Some famous personalities from Karnataka who are also followers of Lingayat tradition are former Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa and scholar MM Kalburgi.
5. Panchamasali Lingayats have been demanding increased reservation for two decades, this came to the fore in 2020. The agitation was suspended in July 2021 after the then CM Yeddyurappa gave an assurance on the floor of the assembly. A three-member committee was formed under the chairmanship of retired high court judge Subhash Adi to address the demand.
6. However, Yeddyurappa resigned a few days later amid growing discontent in the state BJP. Among the points of contention was the quinquennial demand.
Basavanna
The earth is one/ For the Pariya road/ And for the Shiva temple;/ The water is one/ For the washing of dirt and ritual cleanliness;/ All castes are one/ For the self-enlightened man/ The fruit of liberation is the same. Same/for all six systems;/Truth is one,/O Guru Kudalsangma/To know you.— Basavanna (tr HS Shivaprakash)
1. Basavanna was a 12th-century social reformer, activist, and saint, who started a radical anti-caste movement that rejected orthodox ritualistic Hindu practices in favor of a more personal, affective relationship with God, especially Lord Shiva.
2. He was the minister of Kalachurya king Bijjala who succeeded Chalukya and ruled from Kalyana. The Asylum movement He presided over attracting people of all castes and, like many parts of the Bhakti movement, produced the Vachanas, a body of literature that unveiled the spiritual universe of the Veerashaiva saints.
The tradition of Lingayatism is believed to have been established in 12th century Karnataka by the social reformer and philosopher Basavanna. (Wikimedia Commons)
3. Basavanna’s vision of social order was based on human freedom, equality, rationality and fraternity. He and his followers spread his ideas through the words (prose-lyrics) and their main target was caste hierarchy which they rejected with full force.
4. In his one wordsBasavanna claimed “The birthless have no caste discrimination, no ritual pollution.” He rejected Hindu Brahmanical rituals and adherence to sacred texts such as the Vedas.
5. The egalitarianism of Basavanna’s refugee movement was too radical for its time. As his fame spread, people flocked to Kalyan to see him. He established Anubhav Mandapa, where sharanas of different castes and communities gathered and engaged in study and discussion.
6. In contemporary times, followers of Basavanna’s philosophy are one of the most influential groups in Karnataka. They worship both Lord Shiva and Basavanna.
BEYOND THE NUGGET: Veerashaivism
1. Veerashaivism is a Shaivite sect within Hinduism and exists mainly in Karnataka.
2. Adrija Roychowdhury “The Lingayat Sect: Why Hindu and Why Not Hindu?” Ma writes – “Virashaivism emerged in the sixteenth century and followers claim that philosophers of the twelfth-thirteenth centuries were their forerunners. They claim that Basavanna was not the founder of the Lingayat tradition, but a reformer of a pre-existing religious tradition which they call Veerashaivism,” historian Manu Devdevan says
3. Veerashaivas accept Vedic texts and Hindu practices such as caste and gender discrimination.
4. Veerashaivas claim a mythological origin from the Shivalingam, which is similar to the theory of origin of Brahmanism.
(Source: Panchamasali Lingayats, and the politics surrounding their quota demand, What is the Karnataka quota protest?, Lingayat Sect: Why Hindu and why not Hindu?, Why a 12th-century Bhakti saint matters to BJP in Karnataka)
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