Lingayat Vani community is located mostly in Maharashtra and North Karnataka region and belongs to the Veershaiva (or Virashaiva/Lingayat) sect of Hinduism, so they are also referred to as Lingayat Vani or VeerShaiva Lingayat Vani. The name Vani is derived from the Sanskrit word Vanijya which means trade.
They rejected the custodial hold of Brahmins over Vedas and shastras but did not outright reject the Vedic knowledge. They worship all gods and believe them to be a form of Shiva only.[1][2]
Lingayats Vani belongs to the upper caste and therefore are strict vegetarians. Devout Lingayats do not consume meat of any kind including fish. The drinking of liquor is prohibited.[3]
History
They were merchants, traders, agriculturists and Zamidars and some were also Jagirdars before the 19th century. They were given the titles of Appa, Rao, Deshmukh or Patil.[4] They were rich and also used to keep weapons like sword, guns etc.
The Lingayats likely were a part of the reason for the success of the Vijaynagar empire in territorial expansion and in withstanding the Deccan Sultanate wars. Many kings were veerashaiva in faith and belonged to the Karnataka and Lepakshi region. They were an important part of the Vijayanagara Empire army.
They fought the Bijapur Sultans, and the Virasaiva leader SadasivaAppa Nayaka played a key role in leading the capture of Sultanate fortress such as at Gulbarga. This success led to Nayaka being appointed as the governor of the coastal Karnataka Kanara region. This emerged as a Lingayat dynasty, called the Nayakas of Keladi. Virasaivas merchants turned warriors of the Vijayanagara empire defeated the Deccan Sultanates in the Lepakshi region (Karnataka-Maharashtra-Andhra Pradesh border region). After the collapse of the Vijayanagara empire, the Lingayat Keladi/Ikkeri dynasty ruled coastal Karnataka.[5]
Festivals and Gods
Their chief family gotras are Nandi and Vir(or Veera or veerabhadra). They worship lord Virabhadra as their kul daivat(Kul devta) and some have Bhavani mata or Satvai mata as their kul devi.[6]
They believe to be originated from Shiva's Jats and therefore worship lord virabhadra as their ancestral god. They believe in having qualities of a Bhrahman, Kshatriya and vasihyas and neglect discrimination(same was the purpose of virabhadra to kill daksha). Lingayat vanis from nanded worship virabhadra of Mukhed as their kul daivat and the pujari is usually from the lingayat vani caste only.[7] They carry surnames like Devane, Nandedkar, Eklare, Rao, Bagmare, Dongre, Falke, Naik, Umre, Nandkule etc.[8]
They are widely distributed in the western Maharashtra(konkan,pune, kohlapur) and eastern Maharashtra(Parbhani, Nanded,Latur, udgir,Yeotmal and ahmednagar) and the north karnataka region.
They speak marathi and some also speak kannada(north karanataka region).Lingayats traditionally believed themselves to be equal in status to Brahmins, and some orthodox Lingayats were so anti-Brahmin that they would not eat food cooked or handled by Brahmins.[9]
Freedom Struggle
Bhakti Movement
Lingayatism is known for its unique practice of Ishtalinga worship, where adherents carry a personal linga symbolizing a constant, intimate relationship with Shiva. A radical feature of Lingayatism is its staunch opposition to the caste system and advocacy for social equality, challenging societal norms of the time.[10]
Hyderabad Liberation
They were involved in the liberation of Hyderabad state from nizams and helped in the process internally. There were people from latur, namely Bhimrao Mulkhede, Laxman tuljaram devane, datta raghoba devane, who actively participated in the liberation struggle of Hyderabad.[11] Whereas in Nanded region, VishvanathRao appa, Hanmant appa and dhondiba appa devane killed nizam saudagar(local headman appointed by nizams in every village) and looted local british banks creating more chaos for the nizams internally. The mundaragi camp headed by sivamurthy swami hiremath and chenappa wali succeded in protecting victims of razakaars and also attacked razakars creating a necessary internal chaos and defeat of princely state of Hyderabad. [12][13]
British Period
From 1918 to 1969, Lingayats were seen to dominate in the freedom struggle movement, and later in the Congress party. From 1956 to 1969, Congress had four chief ministers who were lingayats(S. Nijalingappa, BD Jatti, SR Kanthi and Veerendra Patil). After that its Hindutva ideology lead the community to support bjp extensively[14]