Lingayat Vani

Lingayat Vani community (marathi: लिंगायत वाणी) is located mostly in Maharashtra and North Karnataka region and belongs to the Veershaiva (or Virashaiva/Lingayat) sect of Hinduism, so they are also referred to as Veershaiv Lingayat Vani or panchamsalli Lingayats. The name Vani is derived from the Sanskrit word 'Vanijya' which means trade.

They rejected the custodial hold of Brahmins over Vedas and shastras but did not outright reject the Vedic knowledge. They worship all gods and believe them to be a form of Shiva only.

Lingayat Vani belong to the upper caste and therefore are strict vegetarians. Devout Lingayats do not consume meat of any kind including fish. The drinking of liquor is prohibited.

In Maharashtra, The Lingayats, the Gujjars and the Rajputs are three other important communities after Brahmins. The lingayats Vanis who migrated from north Karnataka are found primarily in south Maharashtra and Marthwada while Gujjars and Rajputs who migrated from north India have settled in north Maharashtra districts. These communities were rich, used to keep weapons like sword, guns etc. and were usually were local village heads. Next to Marathas, Lingayat Vanis were seen to be a dominating community in politics as well as local markets.

History
They were merchants, traders, agriculturists and Zamidars and some were also Jagirdars before the 19th century. They were given the titles of Appa, Rao, Deshmukh or Patil.

Lingayat Vanis and Marwari Rajputs
In the middle of 12th century, during the kingdom of kalyana, one of Basava's apostles, is said to have gone to Marwar kingdom of Rajputs, and brought back 196,000 Marwari converts and spread them all over the Panch Dravid country or Southern India. The names in common use among men are Baslingappa, Vishwanath rao, Gopalshet, Krishnappa, Malkarjun, Maruti, Rajaram, Ramshet, Shivappa, Shivlingappa, hanumant appa, and Vithoba ; and among women, Bhagirthi, Chandrabhaga, Janki, Kashibai, Lakshmi, Rakhumai, and Vithai.

Vijaynagar Empire
The Lingayats likely were a part of the reason for the success of the Vijaynagar empire in territorial expansion and in withstanding the Deccan Sultanate wars. Many kings were veerashaiva in faith and belonged to the Karnataka and Lepakshi region. They were an important part of the Vijayanagara Empire army.

They fought the Bijapur Sultans, and the Virasaiva leader SadasivaAppa Nayaka played a key role in leading the capture of Sultanate fortress such as at Kalaburagi. This success led to Nayaka being appointed as the governor of the coastal Karnataka Kanara region. This emerged as a Lingayat dynasty, called the Nayakas of Keladi.

Virasaivas merchants turned warriors of the Vijayanagara empire defeated the Deccan Sultanates in the Lepakshi region (Karnataka-Maharashtra-Andhra Pradesh border region). After the collapse of the Vijayanagara empire, the Lingayat Keladi/Ikkeri dynasty ruled coastal Karnataka.

Lingayats and The Bhonsle Clan
The Bhonsles had a special affection towards the Veerashaiva Lingayat faith. Maloji Bhonsle, grandfather of Shivaji, was a devout shaivite and built multiple temples and one of them was a large 49 acre tank built for a lingayat matha of village Shingnapur in the satara district. Rajaram Bhonsle, son of shivaji, also made some grants for the temple in the name of lingayats living there.

Karnataka's Deputy CM Govind Karjol claimed "Shivaji’s forefather Belliyappa was from Soratur in Gadag district in Karnataka. When there was drought in Gadag, Belliyappa left for Maharashtra. Shivaji was the fourth generation of the family". This shows even Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was ‘a Kannadiga' like the Lingayat vani community which migrated to Maharashtra from Karnataka centuries back.

Lingayat Desais and The Marathas
The founders of the family of the Lingayat Desais of Kittoor are said to have been two brothers of the name of Haraimullappa and Chickmullappa, merchants by profession, who resided at Sumpgaum.This suggests the Desais would have been equivalent to Lingayat Vanis in social manner. By some means or other the family seems to have risen to distinction under the Kings of Bijapur, from whom it received the title of "Sumsher Jung Bahadoor", together with the more substantial favours of sundry inams and offices in and about Kittoor.

Bajirao Sarkar Peshwa remembered with gratitude the help and co-operation extended to them by Raja Mallasarja in defeating Tippu Sultan of Srirangapattana in 1781. Mallasarja showed extra-ordinary cleverness in escaping from the prison of Kapaladurga. Besides he was a very able administrator of his kingdom. In recognition of his valour, cleverness and ability Bajirao conferred the title of 'Pratap Rao' on Raja Mallasarja.

Family Deities
Their chief clan gotras are Nandi, Vir(or Veer or veerabhadra),vrishabh, skand and bhringi. They worship lord Virabhadra or narsimha as their kula devata and some have Bhadrakali, Bhavani mata or Satvai mata as their kul devi.

They are religious people and worship all Hindu gods and goddesses, considering them forms of Shiva. Their cheif family deities are Ambabai of Tuljapur, Banali and Danammái in Jat, Dhanai in the Konkan, Esai, Janai, and Jotiba of Kolhapur, Khandoba of Jejuri, Mahadev, Malikarjun near Vyankoba in Tirupati, Revansiddheshvar in Satara, Shakambari in Bádámi, Siddheshvar of Sholapur, Yallamma of Saundatti in Bijapur, Virbhadra of Mukhed in Nanded, to all which places they go on pilgrimage. Lingayat vanis from nanded worship virabhadra of Mukhed as their kul daivat and the priest is usually a lingayat vani only. The worship is carried out by jangams and is the same as that of Brahmins except that they offer their gods neither red flowers nor kevda flower.

They believe to be originated from Shiva's Jats and therefore worship lord virabhadra as their ancestral god. They believe in having qualities of a Bhrahman, Kshatriya and vasihyas and neglect discrimination(same was the purpose of virabhadra to kill daksha).

They carry Marathi surnames like Deshmukh, Devane, Kalyani, Desai, Nandedkar, Eklare, Rao, Appa, Bagmare, Dongre, Falke, Naik, Umre, Nandkule etc.

Many Lingayat rulers had Lord Virabhadra as their family deity and special lunches used to be prepared. Many of then warriors having heroic slogans of "Jai Veerbhadra", repeatedy hacking and pierching enemies. Lingayat Vani marriages have a Gugul Ceremony in which special prayers are offered to Lord Ganesha and Lord Virbhadra. It is performed by the bride or bridegroom and their mothers.

They are widely distributed in the western Maharashtra(konkan, pune, kohlapur) and eastern Maharashtra-marathwada region(Parbhani, Nanded,Latur, udgir,Yeotmal and ahmednagar) and the north karnataka region.

They speak marathi and some also speak kannada(north karanataka region).Lingayats traditionally believed themselves to be equal in status to Brahmins, and some orthodox Lingayats were so anti-Brahmin that they would not eat food cooked or handled by Brahmins.

Veera gotra
The veera gotra belongs to the gotrapurusha Renukacharya (also known as Revaṇārādhya or Revaṇasiddha) who was the teacher of the great sage Agastya of Pañcāvati. This saint is said to have consecrated 30 million liṇgas at the behest of Ravana's brother, Vibhīṣaṇa, after Rāvaṇa's death. Renukacharya originated from the Sadyojata head of Lord Shiva. He takes avatar at the beginning of each yuga and establishes Veerashaivism. At the beginning of the present Kaliyuga, he took avatara from Someswara Linga at Kolanupaka (Kolipaka), Telangana. Chalukya kings of Kalyan, were daily worshippers Lord Someshwara.

The gotra of Veerabhadra is also shared by Jat community like the Lingayat Vani community. Virabhadra and Daksha’s daughtergana's womb originated the Jats. Virabhadra had five sons and two grand sons named Pon Bhadra, Jakh Bhadra, Kalhan Bhadra, Brahma Bhadra, Ati Sur Bhadra, Dahi Bhadra and Anjana Jata Shankar. Seven major Jat gotras are named after these seven descendants of Vir Bhadra.

The Veerashaiva Theology
In Veerashaiva theology the Panchacharas denote the five codes of conduct to be followed by the devotee. The Panchacharas include


 * Sivāchāra– acknowledging Shiva as the supreme divine being and upholding the equality and well-being of all human beings.
 * Lingāchāra– Daily worship of the individual Ishtalinga icon, one to three times day. The wearing of Linga was not universal amongst the Shaivas before Basava; he however made wearing the Linga universal.
 * Sadāchāra– One should follow a vocation and lead strictly a moral righteous and virtuous life. If a community has to be self-sufficient, everyone, irrespective of social status and distinction should be prepared to contribute his share of work, manual or intellectual, as long as work is necessary for the maintenance and development of the community.
 * Kala beda (Do not steal)
 * Kola beda (Do not kill or hurt)
 * Husiya nudiyalu beda (Do not utter lies)
 * Thanna bannisabeda (Do not praise yourself, i.e. practice humility)
 * Idira haliyalu beda (Do not criticize others)
 * Muniya beda (Shun anger)
 * Anyarige asahya padabeda (Do not be intolerant towards others)
 * Bhrityāchāra– Compassion towards all creatures.
 * Ganāchāra– Defence of the weak and the community and its tenets. Use of Power but should be truthful and only if necessary.

Bhakti Movement
Lingayatism is known for its unique practice of Ishtalinga worship, where adherents carry a personal linga in a silver box necklace, symbolizing a constant intimate relationship with Shiva. A radical feature of Lingayatism is its staunch opposition to the caste system and advocacy for social equality, challenging societal norms of the time.

Hyderabad Liberation
They were involved in the liberation of Hyderabad state from nizams and helped in the process internally. There were freedom fighters from latur, namely Bhimrao Mulkhede, Laxman tuljaram devane, datta raghoba Devane, who actively participated in the liberation struggle of Hyderabad. Whereas in Nanded region, VishvanathRao appa, Hanmantappa Devane killed nizam saudagar(local headman appointed by nizams in every village) and looted local British banks creating more chaos for the nizams internally. The mundaragi camp headed by sivamurthy swami hiremath and chenappa wali succeeded in protecting victims of razakaars and also attacked razakars creating a necessary internal chaos and defeat of princely state of Hyderabad.

Modern Period
From 1918 to 1969, Lingayats were seen to dominate in the freedom struggle movement, and later in the Congress party. From 1956 to 1969, Congress had four chief ministers who were lingayats(S. Nijalingappa, BD Jatti, SR Kanthi and Veerendra Patil). After that its Hindutva ideology lead the community to support BJP extensively

Hindu Veershaiv Lingayat Manch, Maharashtra
A protest meeting was held on behalf of Hindu Veerashaiva Lingayat Manch, Pimpri Chinchwad city at Mahatma Basaveshwar Memorial, Bhakti Shakti Chowk, Nigdi to protest against the 24th session of the All India Veerashaiva Lingayat Mahasabha concluded at Davangere in the state of Karnataka in protest against the appeal that the word Hindu should not be written in the column of religion in the upcoming census.

The debate over the religion of the Veerashaiva Lingayat community has now come to an end. Social activists are creating controversy over religion in such a way as to deliberately create a gap between Hinduism and Lingayat society. Mahatma Basaveshwar Putala Samiti President, Shri Narayan Bahirwade, appealed that everyone from the Lingayat community should register as Hindu in census. The community rejected the claims of politically funded organizations to divide the lingayat community for vote bank benefits.

Notable People

 * Shivraj Vishwanath Patil - Minister of Home Affairs of India (2004-2008) and10th Speaker of the Lok Sabha (1991-1996).
 * Babasaheb Neelkanth Kalyani - Indian billionaire businessman, chairman and managing director of Bharat Forge.
 * Ajit Madhavrao Gopchade - BJP Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, activist from Maharashra and one of the Kar Sevak, part of the demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992.
 * Basavraj Madhavrao Patil - Member of the 13th Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.