Foundation stone laid for ‘New Anubhava Mantapa’

Topics covered: Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.

Foundation stone laid for ‘New Anubhava Mantapa’:

Context:

Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa laid the foundation stone for the ‘New Anubhava Mantapa’ in Basavakalyan, the place where 12th century poet-philosopher Basavanna lived for most of his life.

• The project will showcase the 12th Century Anubhava Mantapa (often referred to as the “first Parliament of the world”) established by him in Basavakalyan, where philosophers and social reformers held debates.
• The building will adopt the Kalyana Chalukya style of architecture.

About Basavanna, his thoughts and contributions:

1. Basavanna was a 12th-century philosopher, statesman, Kannada poet and a social reformer during the reign of the Kalachuri-dynasty king Bijjala I in Karnataka,
2. Basavanna spread social awareness through his poetry, popularly known as Vachanaas.
3. Basavanna rejected gender or social discrimination, superstitions and rituals.
4. He introduced new public institutions such as the Anubhava Mantapa (or, the “hall of spiritual experience”), which welcomed men and women from all socio-economic backgrounds to discuss spiritual and mundane questions of life, in open.
5. As a leader, he developed and inspired a new devotional movement named Virashaivas, or “ardent, heroic worshippers of Shiva”. This movement shared its roots in the ongoing Tamil Bhakti movement, particularly the Shaiva Nayanars traditions, over the 7th- to 11th-century.
6. Basava championed devotional worship that rejected temple worship and rituals led by Brahmins, and replaced it with personalized direct worship of Shiva through practices such as individually worn icons and symbols like a small linga.
7. Basaveshwara is the first Kannadiga in whose honour a commemorative coin has been minted in recognition of his social reforms.
8. In November 2015, the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi inaugurated the statue of Basaveshwara along the bank of the river Thames at Lambeth in London.

Basavanna and Sharana movement:

1. The Sharana movement he presided over attracted people from all castes, and like most strands of the Bhakti movement, produced a corpus of literature, the vachanas, that unveiled the spiritual universe of the Veerashaiva saints.
2. The egalitarianism of Basavanna’s Sharana movement was too radical for its times.
3. He set up the Anubhava Mandapa, where the Sharanas, drawn from different castes and communities, gathered and engaged in learning and discussions.
4. Sharanas challenged the final bastion of the caste order: they organised a wedding where the bridegroom was from a lower caste, and the bride a Brahmin.

InstaLinks:

Prelims Link:

1. What is Shramana tradition?
2. What are Vachanas?
3. What is Anubhava Mantapa?
4. Who are Kalachuris?
5. Who are Nayanars?
6. What is Bhakti Movement?

Mains Link:

Write a note on important contributions made by 12th Century reformer Basavanna to the society.

Sources: the Hindu.