A.K.Ramanujan's 'Speaking of Siva' is a collection of 'vacanas' or free-verse lyrics written by four major saints (Basavanna,Devara Dasimayya,Allama Prabhu and Mahadeviyakka) of the great 'bhakti 'protest movement which originated in the 10th CAD.Composed in Kannada, a Dravidian language spoken in the state of Karnataka in India.
The poems are the lyrical expression s of love for the god Siva.They mirror the urge to bypass tradition and ritual, to concentrate on the subject rather than the object ofworships, and to express kinship with all living things in moving terms. Passionate, personal , fiercely monotheistic, these verses possess an appeal which is timeless and universal.
Veerasaivas or Lingayats were protesters against Hinduism of their time, but also against Jainism , the powerful competitor to Hinduism.They however shared with Jainism and Buddhism the doctrine of ahimsa or non-violence towards all creation, the abhorrence of animal sacrifice and ritual orthodoxy.
(the book is published by Penguin Books,India).
Devara Dasimayya :
If they see breasts and long hair coming,
The poems are the lyrical expression s of love for the god Siva.They mirror the urge to bypass tradition and ritual, to concentrate on the subject rather than the object ofworships, and to express kinship with all living things in moving terms. Passionate, personal , fiercely monotheistic, these verses possess an appeal which is timeless and universal.
Veerasaivas or Lingayats were protesters against Hinduism of their time, but also against Jainism , the powerful competitor to Hinduism.They however shared with Jainism and Buddhism the doctrine of ahimsa or non-violence towards all creation, the abhorrence of animal sacrifice and ritual orthodoxy.
(the book is published by Penguin Books,India).
Devara Dasimayya :
If they see breasts and long hair coming,
they call it woman,
if beard and whiskers,
they call it man:
but, look,
the self that hovers in between is neither man
nor woman O Ramanatha!
Basavanna:
When
like a hailstone crystal
like a waxwork image
the flesh melts in pleasure
how can I tell you?
The waters of joy
broke the banks
and ran out of my eyes.
I touched and joined
my lord of the meeting rivers.
How can I talk to anyone
of that?
When
like a hailstone crystal
like a waxwork image
the flesh melts in pleasure
how can I tell you?
The waters of joy
broke the banks
and ran out of my eyes.
I touched and joined
my lord of the meeting rivers.
How can I talk to anyone
of that?
Till the fruit is ripe inside
the skin will not fall off
I'd a feeling it would hurt you
if I displayed the body's seals of love
O brother, don't tease me
needlessly.I 'm given entire
into the hands of my lord
white as jasmine
(P.S:Allama Prabhu was a senior contemporary of Mahadeviyakka. He asked the wild-looking and naked Mahadeviyakka for her husband's identity, she replied she was married for ever to Cennamallikarjuna (i.e., lord white as jasmine- another name for Siva, in Karnataka ). He asked her then the obvious question,:'why take off clothes, as if by that gesture you could peel offillusions?And yet robe yourself in tresses of hair? If so free and pure in heart, why replace a sasri with a covering of tresses?')
Basavanna
The rich
will make temples for Siva.
What shall I ,
a poor man,
do?
My legs are pillars,
the body the shrine,
the head a cupola
of gold.
Listen, O lord of the meeting rivers,
things standing shall fall,
but the moving ever shall stay.
(P.S.:Things standing: sthavara: the static temple,
things moving: jangama, the living itenerant mendicant(jangama)
who is the representative of Linga (Siva) on the earth.
Lord of the meeting rivers : kudalsangamadeva:a form of Siva, Basavanna's chosen personal god.)
