Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar c14.42

c14.42

(iii) Vīra Śaivas: The Vīra Śaivas constituted an influential religious sect in the empire. They were another off-shoot of the Śaivas. Vīra Śaivism as a religion was given a popular turn by Basava (Vṛṣabha), a minister and contemporary of king Bijjala of the Kaḷacūryas. The way had however been prepared for him by a succession of Śaiva teachers. They did not concern themselves very much with the philosophical doctrines of the Vedāntins. "What philosophy the Jaṅgamas professedly have is Vedāntic, but in fact they are deistic (not pantheistic) disciples of . . . . Basava (Vṛṣabha) who taught Śiva worship in its grossest form, the adoration of the Liṅga (Phallus); while his adherents, who spread all over India under the name of Jaṅgamas, 'vagrants,' or Liṅgāyits 'Phallus wearers', are idolatrous deists with but a tinge of Vedantic mysticism."²³ They are staunch Śaivas and carry the phallic (Liṅgam) always with them. They reject the authority of the Vedas, disbelieve the doctrine of re-birth, object to child marriage, approve of the remarriage of widows, and cherish an intense aversion to Brahmans. They constitute even now a very powerful community in the Kanarese country, especially among the trading classes.