Summary In this vachana, Basavanna says that truth, purity, and daily observance must be lived without break. If they can be practiced without failure, that alone is good. He then…

Summary In this vachana, Basavanna gathers several images of unstable or unreliable movement: the weaver bird’s nest, the monkey’s restless movement, the empty marriage, the bat, the gambler’s word, and…

Summary In this vachana, Basavanna asks a series of direct questions. What use is talk of heroism to one who has no weapon? What use is inner speech to one…

Summary In this vachana, Basavanna exposes dependence on external religious requirements. The ritual authorities say that without Nandimukha nothing can be done, without Vibhuti nothing can be done, and without…

Summary In this vachana, Basavanna lists several forms of time-bound observance: sacred lunar days, eclipses, Sankranti, Ekadashi,  and other selected occasions. He then places these beside ritual practices such as…

Summary Basavanna overturns both scholarly and birth-based measures of spiritual worth. One may be learned in the four Vedas, yet without Linga such learning does not establish sacred standing. Conversely,…

Summary In this vachana, Basavanna first places the Sharanas beyond ordinary measure. They are greater than all because their worth is not decided by rank, ritual standing, social judgment, or…

Summary In this vachana, Basavanna compares barren devotion to a lifeless thing placed in the soil. It may be buried in the earth, but it will not root below, and…

Summary In this vachana, Basavanna recalls the gathering for Daksha’s sacrifice. The foremost gods came together for the rite, and he asks the listener to look at their faces. The…

Summary In this vachana, Basavanna begins with the image of a crooked dog’s tongue. Speech that moves without discipline, truth, or right measure becomes speech touched by death. He warns…