Early Life
It is believed that Lord Basava was born into a Shaiva Brahmin called madarasa and Madalambike family residing in a small town, Basavana Bagewadi in Bijapur district of northern Karnataka state, India in 1134 AD. Basava, said to have grown up in an orthodox Hindu religious household and rejected many practices in Vedic society based on some of the religious Scriptures called Agamas, Shastras, and Puranas in Sanskrit language.
He left Bagewadi and spent the next 12 years studying Sangameshwara, the then-Shaivite school of learning at Kudala sangama. There, he conversed with scholars and developed his spiritual and religious views in association with his societal understanding. Játavéda Muni, also known as Eeshánya Guru, was his guru. Basavanna invented Ishtalinga. He was driven by his realisation; in one of his Vachanas he says Arrive Guru, which means one's own awareness is his/her teacher. Many contemporary Vachanakaras (people who have scripted Vachanas) have described him as Swayankrita Sahaja, which means self-made.
Basava Purana, a 13th-century Telugu biographical epic poem, written by Palkuriki Somanatha, and its detailed Kannada version, written by Bhima Kavi in 1369 CE are sacred texts in Lingayatism.
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