Rich tributes were paid to Basaveshwara and his spiritual contribution by Basaveshwari Mataji, head of the Basavadhama of Attivedi village at Mundgod taluk in Uttara Kannada district.
She said the reformer-poet, through his philosophy of `kayaka tatva', had upheld the value of physical labour back in the 12th century when it was looked down upon. She was delivering a special address on Basaveshwara and the vachana revolution during the Basava Jayanti celebrations at Veerashaiva Kalyan Mantap here on Tuesday.
“Basavanna not only advocated the primacy of physical labour, he was himself engaged in physical work although he held high positions in society of his days. He infused self-respect and confidence among the marginalised and led them in a historic movement for equality,” she said.
Referring to ‘vachanas’, the short and simple verses composed by Basaveshwara, she said perhaps no other language in the world had such a rich and great literary and mystical heritage as Kannada.
MLAs Shivaraj Patil of Raichur and Tipparaj Hawaldar of Raichur Rural, Deputy Commissioner S.Sasikant Senthil, Superintendent of Police M.N. Nagaraj, and Zilla Panchayat CEO Vijaya V. Jyotsna were present.