Chapter Info (Click Here)
Book No. – 8 (Political Science)
Book Name – Indian Political Thought (Himanshu Roy/ M.P. Singh)
What’s Inside the Chapter? (After Subscription)
1. Basava’s Experiment with Democracy
2. Basava’s Experiment as a Civil Society and Public Sphere
3. Equality
4. Gender Equality
5. Liberty and Freedom
6. Conclusion
7. Practice Question & MCQs
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LANGUAGE
Exploring the Modern in Medieval: Political Ideas of Basava
Chapter – 5
Table of Contents
- Exploring political ideas in Indian philosophical texts has been a tradition in academia both in India and abroad.
- The search for the political in classical Indian texts, whether ancient, medieval, or modern, became important due to their ideas being modern in their aspirations.
- Political ideas like equality, liberty, and justice are understood as modern aspirations because they emerged from developments in Europe, especially after the Reformation and Renaissance.
- In the West, religious dogmas were challenged by rationalist thought, leading to the growth of a scientific attitude, which influenced both social and political ideas.
- The Industrial Revolution and the emergence of Capitalism were key catalysts for the birth of modern politics in Europe.
- India did not experience the Industrial Revolution or Capitalism but experienced modernity in the medieval period due to colonial powers introducing industrialization and capitalism.
- Colonial India saw significant experimentation with modern ideas and narratives, even though India did not undergo developments like Europe.
- The medieval thought in India was original, intellectual, and a spontaneous response to social issues, embodying ideas that were modern in content.
- One example of responding to social issues is the Veerashaiva Lingayat Movement led by Basava (1131–1167 AD), which sought to challenge the priestly class’s control over social interactions and castes.
- The Veerashaiva Lingayat Movement arose due to social practices imposed by the priestly class that restricted inter-dining and inter-marriage, leading to a dehumanizing existence for non-Brahmins.
- Ramanujacharya exhibited a religious liberal attitude, allowing marginalized groups to enter sacred places and interpreted the Vedic religion in new ways, though societal change was limited.
- Ramanujacharya is known for his humanism, compassion, and contempt for caste superiority, but his efforts failed to fundamentally change society’s conservative structure.
- Ram Mohan Roy, recognized as India’s first modern social reformer, made serious intellectual efforts to bring social change in colonial India, influenced by Western modernism.
- Modernity includes theories of knowledge, rationality, modern science, and political values such as liberalism and individualism, which influenced Ram Mohan Roy’s social philosophy.
- Ram Mohan Roy did not entirely disconnect from Indian classical texts, but heavily borrowed from Western texts in advocating modern ideas like equality.
- Basava’s approach was unique because his ideas were not based on classical texts or external philosophical sources, but on existential responses and conscience.
- Basava’s movement focused on practical spirituality, seeing the world as a test of strength and an arena of struggles.
- Basava was a relentless rationalist, attacking ignorance and superstition, and his philosophy was more modern than many modern thinkers due to his emphasis on rationality.
- Basava’s ideology defined the individual, freedom, and rationality within a communitarian and egalitarian context.
- His ideology formed the basis of Karnataka’s first major effort to establish a modernized society with secular and religious life integrated.
- In Basava’s society, there was no compartmentalization between material and spiritual life, and the human body was seen as sacred as a temple with work being a form of salvation.
- Basava and his followers believed in dynamic and progressive society, rejecting static views of society, and viewed married life as equal to unmarried life.
- Secularism and spirituality were not seen as contradictory, and a scientific outlook was not opposed to a spiritual outlook in Basava’s vision of life.
- The vachanas are lyrical sayings by saints in the Veerashaiva Lingayat Movement led by Basava.
- Vachanas communicated ideas on various social issues of the time, standing in opposition to sruti (what is heard) and smriti (what is remembered), and instead focused on what is said in the present.
- Basava’s vachanas are significant in addressing social, economic, and political issues, particularly those related to self-respect, well-being, and free political environment.
- The social movement led by Basava ended tragically, with many participants sacrificing their lives, but it carried great political messages.
- Basava was not just a saint but a worldly man sensitive to the nuances of language, using metaphors to reflect the full range of human experiences and emotions in his vachanas.
- Basava’s philosophy is compared with early philosophies like Buddhism and Jainism, which emphasized kindness but viewed the world as suffering or defilement, creating a divide between material and spiritual goods.
- Buddhism and Jainism had idealistic worldviews, focusing on individual salvation without addressing changes in the material world.
- Modern materialist philosophies, such as liberalism and socialism, sought to transform society without changing the individual.
- Basava’s philosophy links both spiritual and material worlds, advocating for change both at the individual and societal levels.
- One of Basava’s vachanas reflects this idea: “Assuage your bodies first, each one of you! Assuage your minds, each one!” emphasizing personal transformation before attempting to change the world.
- Basava’s political philosophy emerged from intellectual dialogues with the sharanas and sharanes of the movement and political interactions with the monarchy.
- The social and political interactions during Basava’s time resulted in political ideas that resemble modern political thought but with unique features.
- The paper discusses Basava’s reflections on democracy, equality, gender equality, liberty, and freedom.
- Basava’s background includes being born into a Brahmin family in Bagewadi, a town in the Chalukya empire, where his parents were devout followers of the Vedic religion.
- Basava developed an aversion to Brahminical rites and, out of disgust, left his family in his teens, eventually going to Kudala Sangama.
- At Kudala Sangama, Basava was supported by his sister Nagalambe and guided by Isanya Guru, a divine scholar and leader of the town.
- Under his guru’s guidance, Basava studied various literary and philosophical works and began to realize that such texts were meant for a select few.
- This led Basava to develop his new philosophy through vachanas, focusing on revolutionary ideas for social and spiritual change.
- After his studies, Basava moved to Mangalavede, the capital of Bijjala, a Kalachurya king, and began his administrative career.
- Basava eventually became the finance minister under Bijjala after his rise to the throne, and Kalyana became the site for testing his philosophy of social and spiritual change.