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The Basava Puranam is a 13th-century Telugu epic poem written by Palkuriki Somanatha. It is a sacred text of the Lingayat tradition. The epic poem narrates the life story of philosopher and social reformer Basava (1134–1196 CE), also known as Basavaṇṇa, Basavēśvara, Basavēśa, and Basavarāja, the founder of Lingayat. It is also an anthology of several Lingayat saints (also known as Shiva Sharanas, devotees of Lord Shiva) and their philosophies.
In contrast to champu style (poems in verse of various metres interspersed with paragraphs of prose), Somanatha adopted the desi (native) style and composed the purana in dvipada (couplets), a meter popular in oral tradition and closely related to folk music.
In 1369, the Basava Puranam was translated to Kannada by Bhima Kavi. This version contains detailed descriptions of the life of Basava and came to be considered his standard biography. There are several Kannada and Sanskrit Lingayat puranas inspired by Bhima Kavi's Basava Puranam.
This Telugu puranam was first translated into English by C.P. Brown, a British administrator in colonial south India, in 1863.
Translations
- Siva's Warriors: The Basava Purana of Palkuriki Somanatha, Tr. by Velcheru Narayana Rao. Princeton Univ Press, 1990. ISBN 0691055912.
See also
References
- Basava Purana Britannica.com.
- Basava in Literature Archived 27 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- Basava purana by Bheema Kavi Archived 4 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine cscsarchive.org.
- Extract of 1969 version
- Multifaceted and Multilayered Orientalism: Translations of Lingayath Puranas by Administrators and Missionaries, Vijayakumar M. Boratti, 2013
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