RAS question
Basavanna, the reformer associated with the Lingayat/Virashaiva movement, was from:
Correct answer: (C) Karnataka.
Basavanna, the twelfth-century reformer associated with the Lingayat or Virashaiva movement, was from Karnataka.
Explanation
Basavanna is linked with Karnataka because the NCERT account places the Virashaiva movement initiated by Basavanna and his companions in Karnataka in the mid-twelfth century. He was a twelfth-century social reformer and statesman from Karnataka, served as administrator of the royal treasury under Kalachuri king Bijjala I, and helped spread the Lingayat sect through reformist teachings preserved in Kannada Vachana literature. The point is not merely geographical. In RAS history, Basavanna is a marker for the Deccan bhakti stream that challenged caste hierarchy, ritualism and idol worship while using vachanas as a vehicle of religious and social criticism.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Andhra Pradesh is wrong because NCERT locates the Virashaiva movement initiated by Basavanna in Karnataka, not Andhra Pradesh.
- (B) Maharashtra is wrong because NCERT separately discusses Maharashtra's later saint-poet tradition, while Basavanna's Virashaiva movement is placed in Karnataka.
- (D) Tamil Nadu is wrong because NCERT contrasts the Tamil bhakti-temple background with the Virashaiva reaction initiated by Basavanna in Karnataka.
Concept
This tests the regional location of medieval bhakti and social reform movements, especially the Deccan Virashaiva/Lingayat tradition. RAS repeats such questions because movements, languages and regions are often tested together in Indian cultural history.