Orange versus saffron in Karnataka, again

However many necessary Lingayat Swamis have held on to Basava’s twelfth century riot as marking not solely the repudiation of Brahminical Hinduism but in addition the beginning of a unique spiritual follow. Panditaradhya Swami of Sanehalli was amongst those that objected to the portrayal within the revised textbooks of Karnataka below the BJP’s temporary tenure, of Basava as a “reformer” of an current Veerashaivism. He has as soon as extra stood up for the specificity of Lingayat practices by saying that the follow of invoking Ganesha earlier than each public occasion is in opposition to the basics of a Lingayat follow that’s focussed solely on the worship of the linga itself. He went additional, in (rightly) tracing the ever-widening public celebration of the Ganesha competition as a traditionally latest follow, associated extra to the nationalist motion than to long-established spiritual rites.

Panditaradhya Swamiji heads the department matha of the Taralabalu Bruhan matha, at Sanehalli, a village within the Chitradurga district of Karnataka. He has lengthy been a patron of the humanities, particularly theatre, has established a repertory, and yearly hosts a well known nationwide theatre competition at this matha, for which a formidable infrastructure has been constructed. Throughout the controversy a few yr in the past over the introduction of eggs within the noon meal in a number of districts which have a pronounced downside of kid malnutrition, which noticed some mobilisation of the boys in orange, the Swamiji had stood up for the fitting of individuals to resolve what they need to or mustn’t eat.

He’s, briefly, amongst these mathadishas of Karnataka who routinely interact within the public, and certainly, developmental lifetime of the state. The Swamis of the Tontadarya matha, Gadag, and the Nidumamidi matha in Kolar have routinely labored for an finish to sectarian violence and actively campaigned for Dalit/decrease caste self-redefinition. His senior Swamiji at Sirigere has lengthy organised a weekly Nyaya Peetha through which circumstances starting from environmental points to household disputes are weighed and determined upon. Orange in Karnataka has lengthy stood for a number of actions and practices that intersect with state, non-governmental or group artwork/tradition actions. The time period “secular” would solely poorly describe the work of the matha in Karnataka, and should even diminish it.

Nonetheless, Panditaradhya Swamiji’s rejection of Ganesha worship as incompatible with the tenets of the Lingayat religion set off a frenzy among the many zealous defenders of a unitary Hinduism. Not simply the votaries of a unified Hindu follow, however Lingayats reminiscent of Basangouda Patil Yatnal, a disgruntled BJP politician, have determined to bestow the mantle of extremism on the Swamiji, by referring to him because the “Naxal in orange garments”.

It’s one other matter that the Lingayat (Sharana) revolution of the mystics made many compromises with Brahminical Hinduism, and even at occasions tried to trump it in its personal yard. What else can clarify the extraordinary bouquet of authorized circumstances from the late nineteenth century, through which aspiring, and infrequently new, Lingayat mathas and their followers, fought for, and received, the fitting to chant the Vedas on the streets of Outdated Mysore state? What else explains the wide selection of positions that Lingayats took from the late nineteenth century, vis-à-vis the census operations, now arguing for the standing of a separate faith, arguing that it had a definite “caste hierarchy” of its personal? Little question, too, the Lingayats of Karnataka routinely repudiate Basava’s immortal phrases “My legs are pillars/my physique the shrine/My head a cupola of gold” by way of their rising patronage of temples. This makes Swamiji’s daring stand, in opposition to the practices of his flock, and in opposition to a neo-nationalist political Hinduism, all of the extra valuable, as he redefines “fundamentalism” most profoundly.

Janaki Nair is a Bengaluru-based historian. The views expressed are private