History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c41.s8.6

v3.c41.s8.6

Though the accounts of the Jains and of the Lingayats as given in their Basava Purāṇa differ, certain central facts are common to both. Basava the founder of the Lingayat sect was a Brahmin who was for some time even minister to Vijjana, the Kalachūri commander-in chief of the Chālukyas who had just usurped their power. Basava appears to us to be himself a great reformer and thinker and we differ, with due deference, from the view of Dr. R. G. Bhandarkar that Basava was "merely a strenuous supporter of an existing sect" called Ārādhya. Basava's doctrines are so distinct and novel that he must be considered the founder of a new sect. The Basava Purāṇa in effect expresses this view when it represents that Basava was an Avatāra of Nandi sent by Śiva to establish Śiva worship which according to Nārada had disappeared from the land. He may have taken some tenets from an older sect called Ārādhya; but he certainly gave it a new and a distinct turn. His maternal uncle Baladeva was the minister of the king before him and he himself became minister after his uncle's death. It is said that his sister was married to the king while the Jains represent her to be a mistress of the king. It seems that the latter is a misrepresentation; and it is probable that Basava, not being a believer in the caste system, must have had no objection to this Pratiloma marriage. This itself shows that Basava made a most pronounced departure from old practice. Basava and the king who was a Jain must both have had a contempt for the caste system believed in by the orthodox; but their religions differed on other most vital points and naturally brought them into violent conflict. Basava spent large sums from the treasury on Jangamas or Lingayat religious men. The king thereon denounced Basava who fled. There are discrepant accounts as to what happened thereafter. But certain it is that Vijjana was assassinated by a Jangama (1167 A. D.). Thus began the feud between the Jains and the Lingayats. The Kalachūri usurpation was short-lived being supplanted by the Chālukya Someśvara, the rightful king in 1182 A. D. But the Lingayat sect spread in Kuntala or Southern Maratha country rapidly and finally almost drove Jainism out of the Karnātaka country.