Basava



![A necklace with pendant containing linga symbol of Shiva are worn by devotees of the tradition championed by Basava. Rudraksha beads (shown above) and Vibhuti (sacred ash on forehead) are other symbols adopted as a constant reminder of one's principles of faith.[22]](/uploads/202412/23/Necklace_with_Shiva's_Family_LACMA_M.85.1400623.jpg)
Basava was a 12th-century Indian philosopher, statesman, Kannada poet in the Shiva-focussed Bhakti movement and a social reformer during the reign of the Kalachuri-dynasty king Bijjala I in Karnataka, India. The Basavarajadevara ragale (13 out of 25 sections are available) by the Kannada poet Harihara (c.1180) is the earliest available account on the life of the social reformer and is considered important because the author was a near contemporary of his protagonist. A full account of Basava's life and ideas are narrated in a 13th-century sacred Telugu text of the south Indian Hindu Lingayat community, the Basava purana by Palkuriki Somanatha.