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Lingayat community   Lingayatism is a distinct Shaivite religious tradition in India. Its worship is centered on Hindu god Shiva as the universal god in the iconographic form of Ishtalinga. The adherents of this faith are known as Lingayats. Lingayatism was founded by the 12th-century philosopher and statesman Basava and spread by his followers, called Sharanas. Lingayatism emphasizes qualified monism and bhakti (loving devotion) to Shiva, with philosophical foundations similar to those of the 11th–12th-century South Indian philosopher Ramanuja The terms Lingayatism and Veerashaivism have been used synonymously, and Lingayats also referred to as Veerashaivas. Lingayatism is considered a Hindu sect,[2][5] but some Lingayats have sought legal recognition as a religion distinct from Hinduism. Lingayatism shares beliefs with Indian religions, such as about reincarnation, samsara and karma Contemporary Lingayatism is influential in South India, especially in the state of Karnataka. Today, Lingayats, along with Shaiva Siddhanta followers, Tirunelveli Saiva Pillai, Nadar, Naths, Pashupaths of Nepal, Kapalikas and others constitute the Shaiva population The Lingayat iṣṭaliṅga is an oval-shaped emblem symbolising Parashiva, the absolute reality, and is worn on the body by a cord hung around the neck. Basava is credited with founding Lingayatism and its secular practices. He was a 12th-century Hindu philosopher, statesman, Kannada poet in the Shiva-focussed Bhakti movement and a social reformer during the reign of the Kalachuri-dynasty king Bijjala I in Karnataka, India Basavanna spread social awareness through his poetry, popularly known as Vachanaas. Basavanna rejected gender or social discrimination, as well as some extant practices such as the wearing of sacred thread, and replaced this with the ritual of wearing Ishtalinga necklace, with an image of the Shiva Liṅga Lingayat scholars thrived in northern Karnataka during the centuries of rule by Vijayanagara Empire. The Lingayats likely were a part of the reason why Vijayanagara succeeded in territorial expansion and in withstanding the Deccan Sultanate wars. The Lingayat text Sunya sampadane grew out of the scholarly discussions in a Anubhava Mantap, and according to Bill Aitken, these were “compiled at the Vijayanagara court during the reign of Praudha Deva Raya Similarly, the scripture of Lingayatism Basava Purana was completed in 1369 during the reign of Vijayanagara ruler Bukka Raya I Lingayat (Veerashaiva) thinkers rejected the custodial hold of Brahmins over the Vedas and the shastras, but they did not outright reject the Vedic knowledge. The 13th-century Telugu Virashaiva poet Palkuriki Somanatha, author of Basava Purana – a scripture of Veerashaivas, for example asserted, “Virashaivism fully conformed to the Vedas and the shastras Lingayatism teaches a path to an individual’s spiritual progress is viewed, and describes it as a six-stage Satsthalasiddhanta. This concept progressively evolves the individual starting with the phase of a devotee, Shunya in a series of Kannada language texts is equated with the Virashaiva concept of the Supreme. In particular, the Shunya Sampadane texts present the ideas of Allama Prabhuin a form of dialogue, where shunya is that void and distinctions which a spiritual journey seeks to fill and eliminate. It is the described as state of union of one’s soul with the infinite Shiva, the state of blissful moksha. This Lingayat concept is similar to shunya Brahma concept found in certain texts of Vaishnavism, particularly in Odiya, such as the poetic Panchasakhas. It explains the Nirguna Brahman idea of Vedanta, that is the eternal unchanging metaphysical reality as “personified void”. However, both in Lingayatism and various flavors of Vaishnavism such as Mahima Dharma, the idea of Shunya is closer to the Hindu concept of metaphysical Brahman, rather than to the Śūnyatā concept of Buddhism.[35] However, there is some overlap, such as in the works of Bhima Bhoi. The Lingayats always wear the Ishtalinga held with a necklace. The Istalinga is made up of light gray slate stone coated with fine durable thick black paste of cow dung ashes mixed with some suitable oil to withstand wear and tear. Sometime it is made up of ashes mixed with clarified butter. The coating is called Kanti (covering) The Lingayats bury their dead. The dead are buried in the Dhyana mudra (meditating position) with their Ishta linga in their left hand.    

MIMAMSA :   Mimamsa: According to this philosophy liberation is possible by means of karma Mimamsa is a Sanskrit word that means “reflection” or “critical investigation” It is one of six orthodox (astika) schools of Hinduism. The school is known for its philosophical theories on the nature of dharma, based on hermeneutics of the Vedas The Mīmāṃsā school was foundational and influential for the vedānticschools, which were also known as Uttara-Mīmāṃsā. The differences were that the Mīmāṃsā school developed and emphasized karma-kāṇḍa, or the study of ritual actions, using the four early Vedas, while the Vedānta schools developed and emphasized jñana-kāṇḍa, the study of knowledge and spirituality, using the later parts of Vedas like the Upaniṣads. The school of Mīmāṃsā consists of both atheistic and theistic doctrines, but the school showed little interest in systematic examination of the existence of God. Rather, it held that the soul is an eternal, omnipresent, inherently active spiritual essence, and focused on the epistemology and metaphysics of dharma. The Mīmāṃsā school of Hinduism is a form of realism A key text of the Mīmāṃsā school is the Mīmāṃsā Sūtra of Jaimini Between the Samhitas and Brahmanas, the Mimamsa school places greater emphasis to the Brahmanas – the part of Vedas that is a commentary on Vedic rituals Purva-Mimamsa was just known as the Mimamsa school, and the Uttara-Mimamsa as the Vedantaschool The scholars of Mimamsa school are referred to as the Mimamsakas The core tenets of Pūrva Mīmāṃsā are ritualism (orthopraxy), anti-asceticism and anti-mysticism. The central aim of the school is elucidation of the nature of dharma, understood as a set ritual obligations and prerogatives to be performed properly.    

Vaiśeṣika darshana:   Vaiśeṣika darshana was founded by Kaṇāda Kashyapa around the 2nd century BC The epistemology of Vaiśeṣika school of Hinduism, like Buddhism, accepted only two reliable means to knowledge: perception and inference. The Vaiśeṣika system became similar in its philosophical procedures, ethical conclusions and soteriology to the Nyāya school of Hinduism, but retained its difference in epistemology and metaphysics. Although the Vaisheshika system developed independently from the Nyaya school of Hinduism, the two became similar and are often studied together. In its classical form, however, the Vaishesika school differed from the Nyaya in one crucial respect: where Nyaya accepted four sources of valid knowledge, the Vaishesika accepted only two.    

Samkhya school: Samkhya school: It is most related to the Yoga school of Hinduism, and it was influential on other schools of Indian philosophy.Sāmkhya is an enumerationist philosophy whose epistemology accepts three of six pramanas (proofs) as the only reliable means of gaining knowledge The existence of God or supreme being is not directly asserted, nor considered relevant by the Samkhya philosophers. Sāṃkhya denies the final cause of Ishvara (God). While the Samkhya school considers the Vedas as a reliable source of knowledge, it is an atheistic philosophy according to Paul Deussen and other scholars. A key difference between Samkhya and Yoga schools, state scholars,is that Yoga school accepts a “personal, yet essentially inactive, deity” or “personal god”. Some 19th and 20th century scholars suggested that Samkhya may have non-Vedic origins. Dandekar, similarly wrote in 1968, “The origin of the Sankhya is to be traced to the pre-Vedic non-Aryan thought complex”. Here – in Kaushitaki Upanishad and Chandogya Upanishad – the germ are to be found (of) two of the main ideas of classical Samkhya. Sage Kapila is traditionally credited as a founder of the Samkhya school. The earliest mention of dualism is in the Rigveda, a text that was compiled in the second millennium BCE

Mountbatten Plan : Congress and League reached at an agreement over partitioning two problem provinces of Punjab and Bengal so as to form absolute Hindu and Muslim majority blocks. The actual decision to partition however was left to the vote of members of Legislative assemblies of these two provinces, meeting in two parts, according to a plan known as ‘Mountbatten Plan’. One part representing muslim majority districts and the other the rest of the province. The members of each part will be empowered to vote whether or not the province should be partitioned. If a simple majority of either Part decided in favor of partition, division will take place. If partition were decided upon, each part of legislative assembly would decide whether it would join the existing or a new and separate Constituent Assembly. Indian Independence Act, 1947 : • It declared that India ceased to be a Dependency and the suzerainty of Crown over Indian states with effect from 15 August, 1947. Office of Secretary of State of India was abolished. Crown was not longer source of authority of neither India nor Pakistan.• Governor Generals of 2 dominions and Provincial governors to act as constitutional heads.• There was not longer executive council or Consellors as envisaged in GoI Act, 1935. The words ‘in his discretion’ and ‘individual judgement’ were removed from GoI Act, 1935, wherever they occurred in act. Thus GG and Governors of provinces lost their extra ordinary powers of legislation so as to compete with legislature. • The central legislature ceased to exist on 15 August 1947. Newly formed constituted Constituent assembly was to also function as Central legislature of dominion until new legislature was constituted under new constitution.

Varkari-tradition : The Varkari-tradition is a non-Brahamanical tradition which worships Vithoba, also known as Vitthal, who is regarded as a form of Vishnu or Krishna. Vithoba is often depicted as a dark young boy, standing arms akimbo on a brick, sometimes accompanied by his main consort Rakhumai. The Varkari-tradition is geographically associated with the Indian states of Maharashtra and northern Karnataka. The Varkari movement includes a duty-based approach towards life, emphasising moral behavior and strict avoidance of alcohol and tobacco, The adoption of a strict lacto-vegetariandiet and fasting on Ekadashi day (twice a month), self-restraint (brahmacharya) during student life, equality and humanity for all rejecting discrimination based on the caste system or wealth, the reading of Hindu texts, the recitation of the Haripath every day and the regular practice of bhajan and kirtan.

Dandekar theory : In Dandekar theory, Vaishnavism emerged at the end of the Vedic period, closely before the second urbanisation of northern India, in the 7th to 4th century BCE. Early writings in Dravidian culture such as Manimekalai and the Cilappatikaram present Krishna, his brother, and favourite female companions in the similar terms. Vaishnavism flourished in predominantly Shaivite South India during the seventh to tenth centuries CE with the twelve Alvars, saints who spread the sect to the common people with their devotional hymns. The Bhakti movement of late medieval Hinduism started in the 7th-century, but rapidly expanded after the 12th-century This period saw the growth of Vashnavism Sampradayas (denominations or communities) under the influence of scholars such as Ramanujacharya, Madhvacharya, Nimbarkacharyaand Vallabhacharya. Ramanuja in the 11th century and Madhva in the 13th, building their theology on the devotional tradition of the Alvars (Shri Vaishnavas). In North and Eastern India, Krishnaism gave rise to various late Medieval movements: Nimbarka and Ramananda – 14th century, Kabir and Sankaradeva – 15th and Vallabha and Caitanya – 16th century. All of the Vaishnava Upanishads either directly reference and quote from the ancient Principal Upanishads or incorporate some ideas found in them; most cited texts include the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Chandogya Upanishad, Katha Upanishad, Isha Upanishad, Mundaka Upanishad, Taittiriya Upanishad and others The Pancaratra texts present the Vyuhas theory of avatars to explain how the absolute reality (Brahman) manifests into material form of ever changing reality (Vishnu avatar). Vasudeva, state the Pancaratra texts, goes through a series of emanations, where new avatars of him appear. This theory of avatar formation syncretically integrates the theories of evolution of matter and life developed by the Samkhya school of Hindu philosophy In the Varkari movement the following scriptures are considered sacred in addition to general body of the common writing: [citation needed] • Dyaneshawri • Tukaram-Gatha • Sopandevi • Namdev-Gatha • Eknathi-Bhagwat The Bhakti movement originated among Vaishnavas of South India during the 7th-century CE, spread northwards from Tamil Nadu through Karnataka and Maharashtra towards the end of 13th-century, and gained wide acceptance by the fifteenth-century throughout India during an era of political uncertainty and Hindu-Islam conflicts. Important sites of pilgrimage for Vaishnavs include Guruvayur Temple, Sri Rangam, Vrindavan, Mathura, Ayodhya, Tirupati, Pandharpur (Vitthal), Puri (Jaggannath), Nira Narsingpur (Narasimha), Mayapur, Nathdwara and Dwarka. The Vaishnavism traditions may be grouped within four sampradayas, each exemplified by a specific Vedic personality. They have been associated with a specific founder, providing the following scheme: Brahma Sampradaya (Madhvacharya), Sri Sampradaya (Ramanuja), Rudra Sampradaya (Vishnuswami, Vallabhacharya), Kumaras sampradaya (Nimbarka) The Alvars, “those immersed in god,” were ten or twelve Tamil poet-saints of South India who espoused bhakti (devotion) to the Hindugod Vishnu or his avatar Krishna in their songs of longing, ecstasy and service. The Alvars appeared between the 5th century to the 10th century CE, though the Vaishnava tradition regards the Alvars to have lived between 4200 BCE – 2700 BCE.