| Lingayat Vani | |
|---|---|
| Jāti | Marathi |
| Classification | Forward caste[1] |
| Gotra | Veer(Veerabhadra)[2] |
| Guru | Jangam |
| Religions | Hinduism |
| Languages | Hindi,Marathi, Kannada, Telugu[3] |
| Country | India, |
| Region | Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh |
| Ethnicity | Indian |
| Population | 8.5 to 10 Million in Maharashtra[4] |
| Heraldic title | Appa , Rao , Desai[5][6] |
| Related groups | Veerashaiva Marathas |
The Lingayat Vani community (marathi: लिंगायत वाणी) is an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are native to Maharashtra in western India. They belong to Veershaiv sect of Hindu Shaivism and are also referred to as Veershaiv-Lingayat Vanik or Lingayat Balija or Vira Banajiga or Bir Vanigas. The name Vani is derived from the Sanskrit word 'Vanijya' which means trade.
The Vira Banajigas were a trading caste.
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.[7][8] The 13th-century Telugu Virashaiva poet Palkuriki Somanatha, the author of the scripture of Lingayatism, for example asserted, "Virashaivism fully conformed to the Vedas and the shastras."[9][10]
- ^ https://ncbc.nic.in/Writereaddata/cl/maharashtra.pdf
- ^ "Cult of Warrior-God Veerabhadra – Karnataka Itihasa Academy".
- ^ Thapar, Romila (June 2015). The Penguin History of Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300. Penguin Books Limited. ISBN 978-93-5214-118-0.
- ^ "Why Lingayats are up in arms in Maharashtra". 18 January 2023.
- ^ Singh, K. S. (1996). Communities, Segments, Synonyms, Surnames and Titles. Anthropological Survey of India. ISBN 978-0-19-563357-3.
- ^ https://x.com/dp_satish/status/1647855013174149120
- ^ Prasad, Leela (2007). Poetics of conduct: oral narrative and moral being in a South Indian town. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-13920-5. OCLC 69734509.
- ^ Siva's Warriors: The Basava Purana of Palkuriki Somanatha. Princeton University Press. July 2014. ISBN 978-0691604879.
- ^ Leela Prasad (2012), Poetics of Conduct: Oral Narrative and Moral Being in a South Indian Town, Columbia University Press, ISBN 978-0231139212, page 104
- ^ Velcheru Narayana Rao & Gene H. Roghair 2014, p. 7