Vachana Sahitya

Vachana sahitya (Kannada: ವಚನ ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯ) is a form of writing in Kannada (see also Kannada poetry) that evolved in the 11th Century C.E. and flourished in the 12th century, as a part of the Veerashaiva 'movement'. Vachanas literally means "(that which is) said". These are readily intelligible prose texts.

Madara Chennaiah, an 11th-century cobbler-saint who lived in the reign of Western Chalukyas, is first poet of this tradition and was considered by later poets, such as Basavanna (1160), who was also the prime minister of southern Kalachuri King Bijjala II, as his literary father.