Gajesha Masanayya

Why need a sharp sword to kill the loved one?
Isn’t it enough to say ‘I don’t need you?
Isn’t it enough to dissolve like a hailstone?
Like pouring water at the base of a sand image
Isn’t it enough to dissolve with the loved one?
If separted from the Sharanas of Mahalinga Gajeshwara
I became like the fire doused in ghee [Vachana No.1651] ^[1]

Gajesha Masanayya upheld the supremacy of Sharanasati, Linga-pati tradition. He hails from a village called Karjagi which belonged to Akkalakote province in Gulbarga district Karnataka. He had participated in the mystical discussions with the sharanas of Kalyaana. Then he moved to a village called Manahalli in Alanda taluk of Gulbarga district. He seems to have died there. It is evidenced by the existence of a temple in his name in the village. Gajeshwara of Karjagi was his personal god. His signature is -Mahaalinga Gajeshwara. Masanamma was his wife.

His vachanas preach equality between husband and wife. 70 of his vachanas are available. They reflect the intensity of wife- husband sentiment. Simple language, gentle feeling and poetic style have made his vachanas attractive. As such they are full of tender feeling of divine love. He believed that Linga worship and Jangama Dasoha should be performed with single minded devotion.

When the awaited lover comes home,
Tell me whom else should I think of?
But for enjoying the union
Tell me whome else should I think of?
Why the flood of thoughts?
Once seen Mahalinga Gajeshwara,
And when he calls,
Am I of a stone mind to be separted form him? [Vachana No.1655] ^[1]

If the shadow of a higher caste person is seen in the river of untouchables Does the reflection become an untouchable? If a Sharana moves among the people of the mortal world Does be become polluted? Will not Mahalinga Gajeshwara destroy The words of worldly and Words of those who live only in the present? [Vachana No.1656] ^[1]