Medieval Kannada Literature - Virashaiva Literature

Virashaiva Literature

Among early Shaiva writers Durgasimha who wrote Panchatantra in 1025. He was a minister in the court of Western Chalukya King Jayasimha II. Here he mentions many of his predecessors and contemporaries. Harihara, (also known as Harisvara) was patronised by Hoysala King Narasimha I and wrote the Girijakalyana (1165) in the old champu style describing the marriage of Shiva and Parvati in ten sections. He came from a family of accountants (karanikas) from Halebidu and spent many years in Hampi writing more than one hundred ragales (poems in blank verse) in praise of Virupaksha (a form of Shiva). Raghavanka was the first to introduce the Shatpadi metre into Kannada in his Harishchandra kavya (1165) which is considered a classic even though it occasionally violates strict rules of Kannada grammar.

Prose was the medium chosen by the Virashaiva poets (also known as Lingayat) to write devotional poetry called Vachana Sahitya in the 12th century. They were led by such great saints as Basavanna (a minister in the court of Southern Kalachuri King Bijjala II), Akka Mahadevi and Allama Prabhu. Over 200 Vachana poets (Vachanakara) have been recorded from this period, more than 30 of whom were woman poets. Vachanas are characterized as brief disconnected passages, each ending with one or more names of Shiva. The style was epigrammatical, parallelistic and elusive, dwelling on the vanity of riches and spiritual benefits of the worship of Shiva. These poems are still recited by Lingayat acharyas (priests). The poems have a section called Kalanjnana with a messianic forecast of the future mentioning the arrival of the ideal King Vira Vasanta Raya who would rebuild Kalyani, the geographical centre of the Lingayat movement and restore the Lingayat sect to its full glory. Other famous teachers were Sivalenka, Sripati Pandita, Mallikarjuna Paditaradhya. The five famous acharyas were Revanna Siddha, Marula Siddha, Panditaradhya, Ekorami Tande and Visvesvaracharya. Well known vachana writers of the time were Chennabasava, Prabhudeva, Siddharama, Kondaguli Kesiraja etc.