Lingayat Cultural Dimensions

Lingayat Religious, Social, and Cultural Dimensions

The Lingayat faith is by nature a spiritual religion, centered on unwavering trust in the Creator and on shaping life entirely through dependence on divine grace. There is a firm belief that this grace flows in the form of Guru–Linga–Jangama, and through them.

Therefore, every ceremony has two dimensions:

1. an inner dimension
2. an outer dimension

The inner dimension relates to the religious rite, while the outer dimension belongs to the social and cultural sphere.

Let us understand this with examples:

Suppose a young girl attains puberty. Feeding her, caring for her, adorning her, performing aarati, and inviting relatives are social and cultural activities. But ensuring that she first receives Guru’s instruction and initiation for purification is the religious aspect.

Similarly, when a housewife becomes pregnant with her first child, performing the seemantha ceremony, seating husband and wife together, and doing aarati are social-cultural acts; whereas giving mantric initiation for the child in the womb is the religious act.

Thus, behind every samskara there is not merely a ceremony, but also a religious rite, and this is the most important thing to keep in mind.

As the Dharma Guru Basava says:

ನೀನೊಲಿದರೆ ಕೊರಡು ಕೊನರುವುದಯ್ಯಾ
ನೀನೊಲಿದರೆ ಬರಡು ಹಯನಹುದಯ್ಯಾ
ನೀನೊಲಿದರೆ ವಿಷವು ಅಮೃತವಹುದಯ್ಯಾ
ನೀನೊಲಿದರೆ ಸಕಲ ಪಡಿಪದಾರ್ಥಗಳು
ಇದಿರಲ್ಲಿಪ್ಪವು, ಕೂಡಲ ಸಂಗಮದೇವ.

If You are pleased, the barren branch will sprout.
If You are pleased, the wasteland will become fertile.
If You are pleased, poison itself becomes nectar.
If You are pleased, all desired things—
and even what is needed though not desired—stand before us, O Kudala Sangama Deva.

If the Divine is gracious:

• a dry life blossom
• barrenness becomes fruitful
• disasters that come like poison turn nourishing like nectar
• what is desired, and even what is unknowingly needed, comes of its own accord

Purposes of Samskaras

Samskaras serve many purposes:

1. Purification, (e.g. rites for a girl at menarche)
2. Entry into a religious framework, e.g. Ishtalinga initiation, Jangama initiation
3. Becoming part of the social collective, e.g. marriage
4. Receiving grace, e.g. Ishtalinga initiation, Karuna-prasada

Sometimes people become estranged from close ones through various conflicts. Participation in occasions of joy and sorrow can remove that estrangement, clear differences, and reunite people.

Three Social Stages

Social scientists have identified three stages in some Hindu rites:

1. Separation
2. Transition
3. Incorporation

These stages seem to be socially structured because the physical transitions of an individual continuously affect the person, family, and environment.

For example, when a girl attains puberty:

• it is a new experience
• fear, anxiety, and uncertainty may trouble her
• she is first separated
• elders guide her to adapt to the change
• after rites such as aarati, she is reintroduced into society

However, in Lingayat society there is traditionally no custom of isolating her in an untouchable-like manner. Those who understand the faith may instead give her an oil bath and initiation on the very same day.

Similarly, when a pregnant woman completes seven months, the seemantha rite is performed, and husband-wife relations are paused. After childbirth and recovery, she may return to her husband’s home after about three months. Here too, the stages of separation, transition, and reintegration can be seen.

These practices are changing with the times, and such change is necessary.

The Need for Meaningful Understanding

I could have written this very briefly, but instead I have explained the full meaning behind every rite and ritual.

Today, faith in religious values has declined:

• in villages, superstition often wears the mask of religion
• in cities, neglect and indifference dominate

Yet, if the layers of foreign accretions are removed, religious practice—especially in the rational and deeply meaningful path taught by Basavanna—contains immense significance and even scientific insight.

Once understood, a person may become more devoted than before.

Modern society, especially Indian society, often runs after luxury, pleasure, and indulgence in ways opposed to dharma. One day, weariness and disgust toward such empty enjoyment may arise. Then the person begins searching for what is truly good.

That is why preserving noble thoughts in the form of books is valuable: even if delayed, a seeker may still discover the path to a divine life.

In summary, the samskaras a person receives from birth to death are gradual processes that uplift the individual spiritually, step by step.

Protecting Lingayat Practice from Distortions

The Lingayat faith is distinctive in many ways and differs from other sects and religions.

While shaping it, Basavanna had to ensure that two kinds of distortions did not enter:

1. Defects entering from the classical Vedic tradition
2. Unscriptural, crude, superstitious tribal practices

For example:

• consulting astrology and writing a horoscope immediately after a child’s birth is a Vedic distortion
• burying a pot filled with five grains and money in a hidden place is a tribal practice

Today, all these have once again entered Lingayat society in abundance. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to purify them in the light of the doctrinal framework of Basava’s dharma / Lingayat Dharma.