Mysuru: The Siddaganga Matt seer Shivakumara Swamiji and Suttur Matt seer Shivarathri Deshikendra Swamiji should take a stand on the issue of a separate religion for Lingayat, said former Kannada Sahitya Parishat President Chandrashekar Patil.

Speaking during the national seminar on “Lingayat, an Independent Religion’ organised by the Lingayat Samskrutika Samiti at Nataraj College here on January 28, he said, “The followers of Basavanna including various heads of matts and all Virakta matts swamijis should come in large numbers and take part in the struggle for an independent religion for Lingayats. The swamijis should not think about any adverse effect.”

S M Jamdar, former IAS officer said, “Veerashaivas should not use Basavannas vachanas nor adopt his philosophy. During the census in 1891 by C Rangacharlu, Veerashaiva’s existence came to light. Let me make it clear that if the seers in Karnataka continue to oppose us, then we will expose them with substantial historical records to prove that Lingayats were never Hindus.” He also mentioned that some of the seers were misleading the people by saying that Veerashaivas and Lingayats were one and the same. “Such seers names will be exposed at the appropriate time”, warned Jamdar.

Jungama belongs to Lingayat:

Jamdar also mentioned that some of the people belonging to Jungama community claim that they belong to Veerashaiva but the fact is that they belong to Lingayat. “The word Veerashaiva was started in Mysuru and spread across the state including northern Karnataka. In Mysuru, even today the Veerashaivas are wearing both Janivara and Linga”, he said.

M G Mahadevappa, retired philosophy professor, Karnataka University; Veeranna Rajuur, retired Kannada lecturer, Dharwad and Dayanand Swamiji also spoke on the topic.