While the debate on the demand for separate religion status for Lingayats is leading to divergent views within the community from religious heads and political leaders, president of the Vishwa Lingayat Mahasabha Sanjay Makal of Kalaburagi is busy collecting historical documents to present in support of the claim.
Speaking to The Hindu , Mr. Makal said Chief Census Officer of the Bombay Province under the British rule, Reginald Edward Enthoven, had in his “Essay on Organisation of Lingayats; Little Lingayat Religion” explained how Lingayats were different from Hindus.
“In the fifth edition of ‘Encyclopaedia of Religion of Ethics’ by R.E. Enthovan published in 1951, pages 69 to 75 have information on Lingayats, where the author says Lingayats are not Hindus,” Mr. Makal said.
“In the book ‘Hindu manners, customs and ceremonies’ written by Abbe J.A. Dubois, an anthropologist working for French Missionary and published in 1821, it is mentioned that Lingayats’ philosophy is different from Hindus. A British Survey committee (on fixing age limit for electorate) headed by Lord South Borough had listed Lingayats as a separate community in 1919,” he added.
Mr. Makal also referred to a Supreme Court judgement (AIR 1966. SC 1190: 1966-1 SCR 134 dated 14/1/1966) delivered by Justice Gajendragadkar P.V. in which the judge has said “Buddha started Buddhism, Mahaveera founded Jainism, Basava became the founder of Lingayat religion….” (in paragraph 264).
“In Bombay High Court Case No. (1943) 45 UMLR 992 dated 12/2/1943 Judge Divatia has said: Lingayat faith is altogether independent of Hindu religion, which is primarily based on the authoritativeness of the Vedas and Varnashrama. And Lingayat religion does not accept Vedas and Varnashrama and repudiates the distinction of castes. It is said to be non-Hindu,” Mr. Makal said.
It is interesting to note that the Akhila Bharata Mahasabha, which met in Davangere in 1940, passed a resolution saying that “Lingayats are not Hindus”. Slain researcher M.M. Kalburgi has mentioned it in his “Marga” series of research works. Kalburgi, based on his research, had termed Lingayat as a separate religion different from Hinduism and had said it was a religion founded by Kannadigas.
Meanwhile, it is significant to note that the Veerashaiva Mahasabha’s attempt to get Veerashaiva/Lingayat mentioned as a separate religion during the census was rejected by the Registrar General of India in 2013.
Mr. Makal, however, contends that it is mainly because of the failure of Veerashaiva Mahasabha to provide documentary evidence to substantiate the claim. “One needs to support the claim with documents and it has to be done when a fresh proposal is submitted,” he added.
