Basavakalyan

Tehsil Bbasavakalyan, District Bidar (Bidar), Karnataka, Bharat

Not far from Bidar, the area around Basavakalyan (80 kilometres to the south west) reverberated in the 12th century to the revolutionary ideas of the Veerashaivas. The incomparable poet-philosopher Basavanna, born in Bagewadi (now, Basavana Bagewadi) in neighbouring Bijapur district, lived, practiced, composed his famous vachanas and generated a vast following, here. So did Allama Prabhu and Akka Mahadevi & the other sharanas, who formed the core of this radical, reformist social and philosophical movement. Today's Basavakalyan seems to have fallen in line - and is full of modern concrete structures that are rapidly being built to house colleges, offices and various other establishments. There are remnants, however, of the various mathas and old residential quarters of the Veerashaivas, in and around Basavakalyan. There is the settlement of Madivala Machaiah (the dhobi, turned sharana), the settlement (gaddige) of Allama Prabhu, the cave where Akka Nagamma (Basaveshwara's sister) lived and meditated, and the Mahamane (residence) of Basavanna himself. The famous Anubhava Mantapa, where the epic philosophical debate (many believe one of two or three of the greatest expositions of Indian philosophy, in history) between Allama Prabhu and Akka Mahadevi is believed to have occurred, stands only in a recent faux reproduction, unfortunately. The original is believed to have stood close to the current temple of Basavanna in the heart of the old town. It is possible with only a little effort to imagine and reconstruct, in the mind, what this fecund community might have been like in its hey, as you walk between these quiet sites on the outskirts of Basavakalyan (then known as Kalyan). Eventually, the power centre (of the Kalachuri ruler, Bijjala, whom Basavanna, for a period of time, served) reacted with great violence and claimed the lives and freedoms of many of the sharanas, setting in motion tumultuous events that lasted twenty years, and resulting in a virtual razing of all the original structures of note. Basavanna himself, moved to Kudala Sangama, where he died. Clearly, however, the universalist ideas, poetry and energy of this remarkable period of enlightened pursuit have survived to see a different age.