- He was a 12th century administrator, philosopher, poet, Lingayat saint in the Shiva-focused Bhakti movement.
- He raised social awareness through his poetry, popularly known as Vachanaas.
- 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.
- He was a propagator of Visishtadvaita
- Basavanna literary works include the Vachana Sahitya in Kannada Language. He is also known as Bhaktibhandari, Basavanna or Basaveswara.