Textbook revision: Lingayat seer warns of protests

Muralidhara Khajane
Bengaluru: The controversy over text book revision appears to be growing bigger by the day in Karnataka. The latest to join the issue was Panditaradhya Shivacharya Swamiji of Tarulabalu Jagadguru Peetha, a prominent Lingayat math. On Tuesday, he criticised the misinterpretation of Basavanna in the revised Social Science textbook prescribed for Class 9.
In a strongly-worded letter to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Panditaradhya took serious objection to a statement in the book that  “Vachanakaaras (writers of Vachana-verses which evolved in the 11th century and flourished in the 12th century as part of Sharana Movement) improvised Veerashaiva religion”. Terming the interpretation as completely wrong, he said: “It should have been Vachanakaaras founded Lingayat religion.”
Panditaaradhya accused the textbook revision committee of “misinterpreting the understanding of Basavanna according to their whims and fancies which gives a wrong message about Lingayat religion to people”. He also warned of state-wide protests if the government failed to withdraw the revised textbook soon.
He quoted a few facts from the previous textbook. “Basavanna was instrumental in reforming the medieval society of Karnataka. He challenged the dominance of Vedic religion, which is embedded with Brahminical rituals and promoted Veerashaiva ideals based on great human values. Basavanna discounted institutions like the caste system and discarded Yajnopavita (the sacred thread).