India's politics have always been heavily influenced by caste. Political parties are courting caste groups in the southern state of Karnataka, which holds elections for its assembly on May 10.
The two powerful communities, the Lingayats and Vokkaliggas, must support the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) strongly if it is to win the upcoming elections and stay in power.
Lingayats are present throughout the state of Karnataka, particularly in the north and center regions, but Vokkaligas are restricted to just six districts.
Lingayats are represented politically in practically all of the major parties. Since the late 1990s, the Lingayats have backed the BJP, but their allegiance to the saffron party has grown in recent years.
Lingayats ruled the Congress party and the freedom struggle movement from 1918 to 1969. Four of Congress's chief ministers between 1956 and 1969 were Lingayats (S. Nijalingappa, BD Jatti, SR Kanthi, and Veerendra Patil).
With the split in Congress, Lingayats were left in a political desert from 1969 to 1983. Lingayats dominated the Janata Party, which had two Lingayat chief ministers, from 1983 until 1989. (SR Bommai and JH Patel).
Lingayats currently control the BJP, which appointed three of them as chief ministers (BS Yediyurappa, Jagadish Shettar, and BS Bommai).
BS Yediyurappa worked alone to build the BJP in Karnataka from nothing in 1983 to the ruling party for the first time in 2006-07. Due to BS Yediyurappa's tireless efforts, the number of BJP MLAs kept rising in elections after the election from 1983 until 2004.
Yediyurappa joined the first-ever BJP-JD(S) coalition government in 2006–07 as deputy chief minister under a power-sharing arrangement. However, Yediyurappa was not given the chance to succeed HD Kumaraswamy of the JD(S) as chief minister when his term as president came to an end.
The President's reign was brought about by the conflict between the coalition allies. By the time elections were scheduled for May 2008, Yediyurappa had persistently incited Lingayats' anti-Vokkaliga sentiment.
Political adversaries Vokkaligas and Lingayats have existed at least since the 1950s when Karnataka was first united. Hence, the Lingayat vs. Vokkaliga topic dominated the 2008 Assembly elections.
The conflict between Yediyurappa and Kumaraswamy's families was unrelated. That wasn't a fight entirely in the BJP's favor though. Yediyurappa eventually took office as chief minister in 2008 after a series of machinations to create the majority.
The BJP benefited from the political conflict between the Lingayats and Vokkaligas.
Yediyurappa courted a sizable number of Lingayat mutts while in office by approving or funding many of their educational institutions and backing Lingayat MLAs. He didn't turn around again until he was forced to quit due to corruption allegations, which resulted in his incarceration.
By appointing rival Vokkaliga Sadanand Gowda as chief minister, he made another error. His tenure was brief. By proposing Jagadish Shettar, another Lingayat, as BJP chief minister, Yediyurappa changed his direction.
He was neglected by the BJP because of corruption. He quickly quit the BJP and started his own party, the Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP), which ran candidates in nearly all 224 constituencies in the subsequent election. This caused the Lingayat votes to be divided.
The BJP lamentably dropped the vote. The Lingayats taught the BJP and Yediyurappa a lesson by giving the KJP only six seats. Congress assumed power.
BS Another Lingayat, Bommai, was appointed chief minister. Yediyurappa is currently alone, old, and ashamed. The future of his second son hangs in the balance.
The BJP must contend with excessive corruption, a dysfunctional government, and a dull chief executive. Now, the Lingayat community is less enthusiastic about the BJP. As a result, both the JD(S) and Congress pose a formidable threat to the BJP.
The ruling BJP government authorized increasing the Vokkaliga and Lingayat reservations by 2% apiece but eliminating the 4% Other Backward Classes (OBC) reservation for Muslims under the 2B category, in a significant move ahead of the Karnataka Assembly elections.
It is believed that this is an effort to pit Muslims against the two largest populations in Karnataka. The Lingayats, however, have criticized the action.
Karnataka's northern, central, and a few southern districts are home to lingayats. Around a third of the people in the northern districts are Lingayats. With the exception of Mysore, Chamarajnagar, Shimoga, and Hassan, where they constitute a sizable group, they are sparsely populated in southern districts.
Over three crore Lingayats live in India as a whole, with 1.5 crores living in Karnataka, 1.09 crores in Maharashtra, 50 lakhs in Telangana, and the remainder dispersed throughout Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh.
Since the Lingayats are a patriotic community that battled against Muslim invaders and the British, their recognition as a separate religion on par with Jains, Sikhs, and Buddhists does not pose any threat, danger, or concern to the country or any part of it.
Several Lingayat kingdoms existed, including those in Coorg, Keladi, Punganur, and Mysore (till 1610AD).
LAUNCH OF LINGAYAT
The Indian socio-religious history underwent significant upheaval from the seventh to the eleventh centuries AD. The Vedic and Sanatan religions were revived under the direction of Shankaracharya in the ninth century. Also, around that time, Buddhism in India was in danger of disappearing entirely.
Jainism was fading out. Therefore the most virulent religion was the revivalist Vedic religion. Its adherents were demolishing Buddhist sites like Sannati and replacing them with Hindu/Vedic temples. They were utterly discrediting the Jains' and Buddhists' residual influence.
Invasion attempts by Afghan Muslims like Muhammad of Ghazni and subsequently Muhammad of Ghor also took place at this time. By repressing the Shudra categories of the population, the Sanatanis of the post-renaissance period reinstated the most restrictive Chaturvarna system.
Early in the 12th century, the entire working class was subjected to severe social division and exploitation that was both inhumane and brutal in nature.
A Brahmin kid by the name of Basava was born in such a situation in the early years of the 12th century in the little town of Bagevadi in the current Vijayapura district of Karnataka. His father was the Bagewadi agrahar ruler (an exclusive Brahmin settlement with huge estates and tax-free income under the protection of the king).
As a young child, Basava (also known as Basavanna) watched everything that happened in his strict Saiva Brahmin home and neighborhood.
Other religions and religious reforms became necessary. Basavanna was compelled to create a rival religion as a counterbalance to Sanatan dharma in this way.
Every facet of Vedic rituals and beliefs had to be addressed by the new dharma and altered. Therefore, a rebellion against Vedic dharma gave rise to the Lingayat faith.
The fundamental ideas of Basavanna were the rejection of the caste system, the Vedas, Shastras, and Puranas, as well as hell, heaven, rebirth, idol worship, temple culture, priestcraft, pollution, and purification.
All of them disobeyed the Sanatan Dharma. He also declared that there was only one God, rejecting the polytheistic beliefs and worship that were common in Vedic dharma.
It was challenging for the average person to imagine an invisible God. So he made a tiny version of the universe's symbol. It was given the name "Ishtalinga" and was a square, semi-spherical icon. Every individual identified as a Lingayat wears the Ishtalinga on their body all the time by tying it in a piece of white fabric around their neck.
The Lingayats believe that all people—men and women, wealthy and impoverished, possessors and possessees, powerful and powerless—are equal. Basava attacked the Brahmins because they were seen to be superior.
He denounced the homa, havana, and animal sacrifice rites. As a result, among Lingayats both then and still, smoking, vegetarianism, and complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages are considered forbidden.
To make a living, he argued that everyone must work, preferably physical labor and that all work is honorable.
The greatest accomplishment of Basavanna was the release of women from Vedic prejudices. Women, according to him, are on par with males in every way. He freed them from the most degrading taboo around menstruation.
He forced widows to get remarried and stopped child marriages. He granted bereaved and single women the freedom to adopt. He granted them property rights. These Lingayat characteristics are still present now.
Society at the time had beliefs and practices that had a negative impact on Basava's tender but inquisitive mind.
When it came to his turn to perform the ritual of tying the sacred thread (yajyopaveet), Basava resisted until his older sister was also permitted.
When his parents and other Brahmins objected, he tore away the holy thread, left his family, and headed to Kudal Sangam, a Nath Panth center noted for its progressive philosophy.
Dalits were confined to small ghettos. They lacked any legal claim to any real estate. No one from the Vaishya, Kshatriya, or Brahmin castes would approach them. The Sanatanis of the upper caste had wells, but these were inaccessible to them. He made the decision to create an equitable society in place of such an unjust and inhumane regime.
Basava studied at Kudal Sangam until he was 22 years old, or almost 10 years. Along with learning about popular schools of Shaivism like Pashupat, Kapalika, Kalamukhi, Kashmiri Shaivism, and Tamil Saiva Siddhant of the Nayanmars, he attained mastery of the Vedas, Puranas, Shastras, and Agamas there. His writings amply demonstrate his in-depth familiarity with these ideologies and systems.
At the age of 22, Basava married Gangambika, the niece of his maternal uncle Bakadeva, and started working as an accountant in the treasury of Kalachuri Bijjal II, who ruled as Mangalvede in modern-day Maharashtra as a vassal of the Western Chalukyas.
Under the administration of Bijjala II at Mangalvede, Basava worked hard and was sincere, moving up the ranks to become the equivalent of today's finance minister. His deciphering of an inscription describing the royal complex's treasure trove led to the discovery of a sizable treasure, most likely a war chest, which increased Bijjala's fortune.
Basava was elevated to mahamantri status, making him the current chief minister's equal. Basavanna took over as Bijjala's prime minister in 1145 AD. In 1145 AD, Basavanna developed Anubhav Mantap, the original idea of a parliamentary system.
The Lingayat culture, including its society, religion, governance, and economics, was founded by Anubhav Mantap. Our current Indian Constitution was written with equality, global fraternity, justice, and peace as its guiding values.
Sovideva, the son of Bijjala, led his army in a reign of terror that resulted in the murder of tens of thousands of Basavanna's supporters. The vachana writings were destroyed by fire. The Lingayat faith was outlawed.
Around 1167 AD, the boldest revolt in Basavanna came to an end there. Due to persecution by forces of Satan throughout the following 200 years, Lingayats and their faith were active in the underground movement, much like Christians in the Roman Empire.
Proudh Devaraya, Mallikarjun, and Virupaksha, the final three rulers of the Sangam dynasty of Vijayanagar, ruled between 1422 and 1486 AD. They were supported by the monarch in the revival of the Lingayat faith.
Vachanas that were left over were compiled. Apart from the 9,000 vachanas that have survived in oral tradition and folklore, most of the Lingayat literature about this religion that is currently available dates from this time.
More than a thousand Lingayat mutts had been created by the 18th century in Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Telangana. Lingayats started requesting a different religious status in 1891. Lingayats were listed as a different religion outside of Hinduism in the 1871 census.
The Supervisor of the Census in Mysore, AWC Lindsay, categorized them separately alongside Jains. However, the Diwan of Mysore C. Rangacharlu combined Lingayats with the Shudra category of Hindus for the second census. This infuriated every Lingayat, and a massive uprising before the third census in 1891 ensued.
The second push for separate religious status started in the Bombay Presidency later in the 1940s. The second World War broke out before it could be studied, and the movement went unnoticed.
The Lingayats' demand, along with similar ones made by Jains, Sikhs, and Buddhists, went unmet in the backdrop of India's religious split after it gained independence.
In 2017, a new and big demand for the third independent religion status was made. It is still going on right now, methodically.
The Lingayat community stands for variety and unity today. It contains a number of divisions that reflect many important castes that assimilated into the Lingayat mainstream.
As a result, there are Scheduled Castes made up of erstwhile Untouchables including shoemakers, scavengers, basket weavers, tanners, rope makers, etc. Several more Shudra castes exist, including those who work as farmers, weavers, tailors, blacksmiths, carpenters, oilmen, ferrymen, shepherds, masons, barbers, and so forth.
There are also Brahmin converts who go by the names Veerashaivas, priests, Jangams, Aradhya, Ayya, and others. Several groups exist, including traders, businesspeople, and industrialists. Hence, it is a multilingual community.
