Bengaluru: The expulsion of a prominent seer in Karnataka for his leanings towards Hinduism has exposed the strain between the Lingayat community and the pro-Hindu organisations in the state and the complexities of prevailing caste dynamics.
Jaya Mruthyunjaya Swami, the first head of Panchamasali Peetha, an outfit of the Lingayat community’s Panchamasali sub-sect in Kudalasangama, was expelled from his position after he asked members to register in the ‘Hindu’ religion category in the caste census that began Monday, triggering a controversy.
The Akhila Bharata Lingayat Panchamasali Samaj Trust removed him after the seer held meetings urging people to identify as ‘Hindu’, not Lingayat, in the ongoing survey, officially called the Socio-Economic and Educational Survey.
“Our religion is Lingayat, and caste is Panchamasali. But if a person sits as the head of a Lingayat Matha and says we are Hindu, how can we sit quietly?” Vijayanand Kashappanavar, the president of the Akhila Bharata Lingayat Panchamasali Samaj Trust and Congress legislator from Hungund in Bagalkote district, told ThePrint. “Even if the seer loses his way, can we also do the same?”
Kashappanavar further said that the seer “lost his way” and was acting under the influence of the Hindu Right groups. He said the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Hindutva groups now “controlled” the seer and was turning him against the principles of Basavanna, the Lingayat founder and 12th-century social reformer, who denounced Vedic practices and propagated a casteless society, with equal rights for men and women.
“He has been funded by the RSS…is under the grasp of Hindutva,” the legislator said.
Even as the trust looks for a replacement, Jaya Mrityunjaya said that he would remain in Kudalasangama and rebuild the matha.
“I have been fighting for better reservations for the Panchamasalis. But some people could not tolerate this, formed a trust, and are trying to regulate me through it,” the seer told reporters, adding that he was “free” and his only assets were his “devotees”.
His statements came while a group of people carried out marches in his support in Kudalasangama Monday.
ThePrint reached Jaya Mruthyunjaya Swami for comment via calls. This report will be updated if and when he responds.
Also Read: Lingayat-Veerashaiva rift resurfaces in Karnataka, this time over a caste census strategy
Political dynamics
At the heart of the debate is the complex socio-political landscape of Karnataka, where parties rely on caste-based support for electoral backing.
The BJP has opposed decisions by various prominent community-based organisations to identify themselves as ‘others’ in the ongoing socio-economic and educational survey or caste census being conducted by the Siddaramaiah-led government. This, the BJP fears, would lead to the splintering of its core support base, the Lingayats, who it has seen as an extension of the Hindu religion.
The Panchamasali—a land-owning agrarian community that makes up the largest chunk among the dominant Lingayats—is believed to be the biggest and most influential caste group in Karnataka.
In Jaya Mruthyunjaya’s case, the allegations expose the fault lines within various sections of the Lingayat community, their fight for a separate religion tag that puts them at odds with pro-Hindu groups, the ongoing caste census, and the overarching political dynamics.
‘RSS-funded’
The All India Veerashaiva Mahasabha, led by prominent Congress legislator Shamnur Shivashankarappa and incumbent forest minister Eshwar Khandre, has also asked members of the community not to identify themselves as ‘Hindu’.
Another prominent umbrella organisation, the Jagatika Lingayata Mahasabha, has asked members to identify their religion as ‘Lingayats’ and not use ‘Veerashaiva’—the words are sometimes used interchangeably.
These developments have revived the separate religion movement and also exposed faultlines.
The BJP, which has stood behind the Shivashankarappa-led organisation all these years, has decided to oppose it since it would lead to the breakdown of Hindu society.
After all, in Karnataka, parties and leaders rely heavily on community-based support.
The BJP is largely backed by the Lingayats, while former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal (Secular) or JD(S) is backed by the Vokkaligas.
The Congress relies on the votes of minorities and backward classes.
But the Lingayats, at least a significant section, want to break away from the Hindu fold.
Also Read: How Karnataka’s medieval Lingayats challenged caste, oppression of women & toppled empires
‘We made him a guru’
Almost a decade after the Akhila Bharata Lingayat Panchamasali Samaj Trust was formed, the organisation decided to also establish a matha (monastery). Kudalasangama—Basavanna’s final resting place—was the ideal choice to set up the matha to represent the Panchamasali, a land-owning agrarian community among the Lingayats.
Around 2006, the trust decided to look for a seer or spiritual head and found Jaya Mrityunjaya, who was at the time heading a small shakha of the larger Sri Murugha Matha in Chitradurga. In 2008, he assumed the chair as the first head of the Kudalasangama Panchamasali peetha.
Kashapannavar and others from the community approached Jaya Mrityunjaya to take over as the first spiritual head of the newly-formed Matha in Kudalasangama.
Jaya Mruthyunjaya has spearheaded the Panchamasali agitation to be included in the 2A category of the state backward classes reservation. He, people aware of the seer’s journey said, was also instrumental in helping members of the community band together as a sizable group and demand better reservations than other sub-sects of the Lingayats.
“We specified conditions, but he has violated them since the beginning,” Kashappanavar said. The Congress legislator added that the seer was given three notices between 2014 and 2019 for violating rules laid down by the trust.
“Our seer; we made him that. He hasn’t descended from the heavens. All of them are humans; we made them gurus, and they should listen to the people. Not become puppets of those who fund them,” Kashappanavar said.
Challenging a seer—and that too publicly—is rare in Karnataka.
Jaya Mruthyunjaya scoffed at Kashappanavar’s allegations. “Can anyone give notices to gurus?” he asked reporters.
