Basavanna

Basavanna was a famous Indian philosopher, statesman and a social reformer from Karnataka. Basava fought against the practice of the caste system,Through Poetry he spread social awareness. He used Ishtalinga to allieviate untouchablity, His aim was to establish equality among all human beings. He created a model parliament called “Anubhava Mantapa” that gave equality to all and it had representatives from all social backgrounds.He was the proponent of the sharana movement, which taught people to live happily in a rational social order.

Basavanna was born into a Shaiva Brahmin family at Basavanna Bagewadi in Bijapur district of Karnataka. He left Bagewadi and spent the next twelve years studying Sangameshwara, the then-Shaivite school of learning at Kudala sangama. He was also known as Viswaguru, and Bhakthi Bhandari. He spread the concept of becoming God through four levels of divinity that exists in ones own body such as Guru, linga, Jangama and mind. Basavanna taught the technique of transcending the mind with one’s own prana through a process of Ishtalinga, Pranalinga and Bhavalinga saadhana and become God by being in union with prana which any person in the world can do irrespective of caste, creed, nationality, etc.

He created a literary revolution through his literary creation Called Vachana Sahithya in kannada language, Which has its origin from the Upanishads and vedanta. He believed that man becomes great not by his birth but by his conduct in society. This means faith in the dignity of man and the belief that a common man is as good a part of society as a man of status.