Vachana sahitya is a form of rhythmic writing in Kannada that evolved in the 11th century CE and flourished in the 12th century,as a part of the Sharana movement. Madara Chennaiah an 11th-century cobbler-saint who lived during the reign of the Western Chalukyas and who is regarded by some scholars as the "father of Vachana poetry." The word "vachanas" literally means " said". These are readily intelligible prose texts. Jedara Dasimayya who lived in the mid 10th century is considered the first proponent of lingayatism. Later poets, such as Basavanna, the founder of Lingayatism, prime minister of Southern KalachuriKing Bijjala II, considered Chennaiah to be his inspiration.
Vachanas and Sharana movement
Basavaadi Sharana's Vachanas are their experiences in the process of God realization. About 800 sharanas practiced the technique and wrote their experiences in terms of Guru, Linga, Jangama, Padodaka, and Prasada. As per record, this form exchange of experience of the realization of the God in group discussion has happened only in Karnataka by the sharanas mainly under the guidance of Basavanna, Channa Basavanna Allama Prabhu and Siddarameshwar. This fact has been attributed to the popularity of the movement. More than 200 Vachana writers have been recorded and more than thirty of whom were women.
Vachanas
Vachanas are brief paragraphs, and they end with one or the other local names under which Shiva is invoked or offered Pooja. In style, they are epigrammatical, parallelistic and allusive. They dwell on the vanity of riches, the valuelessness of mere rites or book learning, the uncertainty of life and the spiritual privileges of Shiva Bhakta. The Vachanas call men to give up the desire for worldly wealth and ease, to live lives of sobriety and detachment from the world and to turn to Siva for refuge. Authors of a particular Vachana can be identified by the style of invocation of God in the vachana. The existing readings of the vachanas are mostly set by the European understanding of the Indian traditions. About 20,000 vachanas have been published. The government of Karnataka has published Samagra Vachana Samputa in 15 volumes. Karnataka University Dharwad has published collections of individual vachana poets. Jedara Dasimaiah is called the 'Adya Vachanakara'.
