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Today
Karnataka celebrates 'Basava Jayanthi Utsav' in memory
of Basaveswara the great 12th century social reformer. He
was a minister of a local king, but he devoted his life for
the upliftment of the oppressed lower castes. He worked against
the community discrimination like untouchability. He hailed
from Bagewaadi, Bijapur in North Karnataka.
He was the founder of the Lingayat community, a community
which believes in equality of the human race irrespective
of caste creed or religion. "Our body is the abode of God,
so we don't need to worship anybody else," was the gist of
his teachings.
In
1964 Basava Samithi was inaugurated at Shiv Yogi Mutt
to disseminate the principles of Basaveswara (Basava tathva),
by the leadership of Dr B D Jatti who served as Governor
and Vice President of India. The committee had been patronized
by the then Maharaja of Mysore, Jaya Chamarajendra Wodeyar
and Nijalingappa, a renowned Gandhian and the former Chief
Minister of Karnataka and Brahmanada Reddy, the former Chief
Minister of Andhra Pradesh. Since thirty-seven years the committee
is into various social and cultural activities.
In
1971 they shifted into the present building, Basava Bhavan
in the heart of the city. A grand auditiroum called Anubhava
Mantap was added later for conducting cultural activities.
Another building Arivuna Mane Auditorium was built in January
2000 to conduct religious discourses and seminars. Basava
Samithi organizes various cultural and recreation programme
on the occasion of Basava Jayanthi.
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