Lingayat

ಒಮ್ಮೆ ನಾನು ಅಲ್ಲಮ ಮತ್ತು ಬಸವರನ್ನು ಖುದ್ದು ಭೆಟ್ಟಿ ಮಾಡಿ ಹೀಗೊಂದು ಪ್ರಸ್ತಾವವನ್ನು ಮಾಡಿದ್ದರೆ, ಅವರೇನು ಹೇಳುತ್ತಿದ್ದರು ಎಂದು ಯೋಚಿಸಿ ನೋಡಿ: "ಅಲ್ಲಮ ಮತ್ತು ಬಸವ ಸರ್, ನಾನು ನಿಮ್ಮ ಸೂಚನೆಗಳನ್ನೆಲ್ಲಾ ಅನುಸರಿಸಿ, ನೀವು ತಿಳಿಸಿಕೊಡುವಂತೆ ಬದುಕಲು ಸಿದ್ಧನಿದ್ದೇನೆ. ಆದರೆ ನನ್ನದೊಂದು ಅರಿಕೆ ಇದೆ. ನೋಡಿ ನಾನೊಬ್ಬ ಕ್ರಿಶ್ಚಿಯನ್ ಭಕ್ತ. ನಾನು ಕೇವಲ ಜೀಸಸ್ ಅನ್ನು ಮಾತ್ರ ಪೂಜಿಸುವುದು. ಲಿಂಗ ಮತ್ತು ಶಿವನ ಆರಾಧನೆ ನನ್ನಿಂದ ಸಾಧ್ಯವಿಲ್ಲ. (೧) ಇಂತಿರುವ ನನ್ನಂಥ ಕ್ರಿಶ್ಚಿಯನ್ ಭಕ್ತನಿಗೂ ನೀವು ಮುಕ್ತಿಯ ದಾರಿಯನ್ನು ತೋರಿಸಬಲ್ಲಿರಾ? ನನಗೂ ಶಿವಸಾಯುಜ್ಯ ಸಿಗುತ್ತದೆಯೇ?  (೨) ಅಥವಾ ನಾನೂ ಲಿಂಗಾಯತನಾಗ ಬೇಕು ಎಂದು ಒತ್ತಾಯಿಸುತ್ತೀರ? ನೀವು ಕಂಡುಕೊಂಡು ತೋರಿಸಿಕೊಡುತ್ತಿರುವ ಆ ಮುಕ್ತಿ ಕೇವಲ ಲಿಂಗಾಯತರಿಗೆ ಮಾತ್ರ ಮೀಸಲಾಗಿದೆಯೇ?”

ಒಂದು ವೇಳೆ ಮೊದಲೆರಡು ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿಗೆ ನಿಮ್ಮ ಉತ್ತರ ‘ಇಲ್ಲ’ವೆಂದೂ ಮತ್ತು ಕಡೆಯ ಎರಡು ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿಗೆ 'ಹೌದು' ಎಂದಾದರೆ, ಈ ಉತ್ತರಗಳು ಕ್ರಿಶ್ಚಿಯನ್ ಮತ್ತು ಇಸ್ಲಾಂ ರಿಲಿಜನ್ ನೀಡುವ ಉತ್ತರಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಬೇರೆಯಲ್ಲ. ...

... In less than hundred years, we have found new uses for what has remained of these traditions today. We have successfully turned these drainage cisterns into our battlefields-cum-flea market-cum-bedrooms. We use the remains of the pipes as tools to beat each other up, when we are not busy begging in the name of these traditions for state benefits, like lower-caste status, reservations and minority-religion status. The only requisite is our ability to formulate our greed in the language of 'social justice' and represent our traditions as 'social reform movements' of some kind. ...

The paper begins by drawing our attention to the problems in the current understanding of bhakti traditions. By focusing on the way the Lingayat vachanas speak about caste (or jati), this paper suggests that the popular belief that they take an anti-caste stance cannot be proved either through textual analysis of the vachanas or by building a consistent and strong argument. The second part offers an alternative reading of the vachanas. It tries to show that the vachanas saw jati as an obstacle in the adhyatmic journey of a Lingayat seeker and not as a social problem related to hierarchy and oppression.

In many ancient traditions, weather Western or Eastern, the veneration of the footprints left by a god, a saint, or a master is quite common. Indeed, plenty of such images, in stone, marble, silver, ivory or some that are even painted, have come down to us, still functioning as votive objects.
In the Indian milieu, in particular, the widespread cult of the footprints coexists with an equally prevalent devotion to the guru’s and ascetic’s footwear (pādukā).
The present paper will attempt to throw new light on certain aspects of the cult of the guru’s sandals and other footwear, in the Liṅgāyat tradition. Focusing on how the Liṅgāyat practices and peculiarities compare with similar cultic traditions in the larger Hindu culture.

Recent studies have reported that the mausoleum of Aḥmad Shāh I Bahmanī (r. 1422-1436), in Ashtur (Karnataka), is frequented by both Muslims and Vīraśaivas. Now, setting out from the pilgrimage performed on the occasion of the sovereign’s ʿurs, the aim of the present contribution is to analyze some of the architectural sites that are touched by the pilgrimage, and to examine how their spaces are understood and perceived by the devotees. The paper aims to shed light on the coexistence of these two religious groups and on the way in which certain forms of competition and negotiation have come to be transposed onto the cultural and historical landscape.

SAFFRON TERROR HYPE OR REALITY?
Watch how Hindutva intellectuals speak lies, misrepresent court judgments while denying the existence of the HINDUTVA TERROR which killed MK Gandhi, Govind Pansare, Narender Dabholkar, MM Kalburgi, Gauri Lankesh and many-many more Indians.
https://www.ndtv.com/video/shows/reality-check/saffron-terror-hype-or-reality-520220?video-featured

This is the 911th birth year of Basavēšvara (1106-1167/8), one of the most revolutionary social reformers, a mystic, a poet and statesman of South India lived in the 12th century. Like many other social philosophers in South India, Thanthai Periyar and Sri Narayana Guru, Basavēšvara also deconstructed many of the Hindu binaries on which Indian society get stagnated, stratified; therefore, remained underdeveloped for a long time. He placed Kāyaka (labour) superior to Karma (duty) and language of people (Kannada) superior to the language of God (Sanskrit) and Anubhava Maṇḍapa (democratic interaction) over metaphysical intuition (authoritarian intuition).  By preaching and practice he broke the unholy alliance maintained by the Hinduism between caste and profession and made labour free from the caste. There is no doubt that, Basavēšvara was not an emancipator of slaves, but he consistently vindicated the dignity of labour; to him, labour emancipates human from the slavery of Karma propagated by the Hinduism. If Basavēšvara can be compared to anybody in the world, it is to Martin Luther the founder of Protestants movement among the Christianity in Europe. Luther’s contribution towards the emergence of the spirit of capitalism which has broken the feudatory in Europe is an iconic emancipatory movement in the history of humanity. However, I will do this comparison with certain reservation due to the much observed Max Weber’s misunderstanding about the religions in India.