ISBN : 81-7508-433-2 

Vol. No : 718 

Basava occupies a unique place among the prophets of the world. An eminent scholar has described Basava as a wonder of creation, and any serious student of Basava will endorse this whole-heartedly. The many facets of Basava’s charismatic personality simply baffle us. He was Bijjala’s ‘Bhandari’, Shiva’s ‘Bhakti Bhandari’, a mystic of a very high order and an independent and original thinker. He was a revolutionary social reformer, an architect of a new classless and casteless society based on equality and social justice. He was an emancipator of Indian womanhood and a saviour of the downtrodden. Basava was the originator of a new economic order with Kayaka - pure and honest work - as its cornerstone. He was a champion of freedom of discussion. He upheld the greatest respect for others’ points of view. What an all-inclusive and comprehensive revolution Basava brought about in a breathtakingly short period of a single decade! Basava’s views are timeless. The world has taken little notice of this great experiment in history, but it is bound to take an ever-lasting interest in what Basava did and said 800 years ago in order to find new solutions to outstanding human problems that confound present-day thinkers and social scientists. I personally feel that Basava’s concept of Kayaka holds the key to solving the vexing problem of hunger amidst plenty and grinding poverty and unemployment in the presence of unprecedented accumulation of wealth in the developed countries. It combines ethics with economics, temporal well being with spiritual happiness, and dignity of labour with the dignity of the human being.