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{{Use Indian English|date=June 2019}}
{{Lingayatism}}
The '''Basava Purana''' is a 13th-century [[Telugu language|Telugu]] [[epic poem]]. It was written by [[Palkuriki Somanatha]]. It is a sacred text of [[Lingayat]]. The epic poem narrates the life story of philosopher and social reformer [[Basava]] (1134–1196 CE), the founder of <nowiki>Lingayat</nowiki> .<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/54674/Basava-Purana Basava Purana] [[Britannica.com]].</ref> He is also known by several other names such as Basavanna, Basaweshwara, Basavesha, and Basavaraja. It is also an anthology of several Lingayat saints (also known as Shiva Sharanas, devotees of Lord Shiva) and their philosophies. In contrast to [[campu]] style (poems in verse of various metres interspersed with paragraphs of prose), Somanatha adopted the [[desi]] (native) style and composed the purana in [[dwipada]] (couplets), a meter popular in oral tradition and closely related to folk songs.{{fact|date=June 2019}}

Later in 1369 A.D., it was translated to [[Kannada language]] by Bhima Kavi, this version contains detailed description and in time was considered his standard biography.<ref>[http://lingayatreligion.com/Lingayat/BasavaPuranas.htm Basava in Literature] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130527092032/http://lingayatreligion.com/Lingayat/BasavaPuranas.htm |date=27 May 2013 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.cscsarchive.org:8081/MediaArchive/Library.nsf/%28docid%29/3E4576CF4860643665257202004A7DC5?OpenDocument&StartKey=Basava&count=50 Basava purana by  Bheema Kavi] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090104214600/http://www.cscsarchive.org:8081/MediaArchive/Library.nsf/%28docid%29/3E4576CF4860643665257202004A7DC5?OpenDocument&StartKey=Basava&count=50 |date=4 January 2009 }} cscsarchive.org.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=2fhCH-NRatUC&pg=PA65&lpg=PA65&dq=Basava+purana&source=bl&ots=HEqeGPvqYd&sig=R0ZgNA1Tb3DLzs3wQ2anbgw3Po0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=MNjaT8zLCs3rrQf7j_2PCQ&ved=0CFYQ6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q=Basava%20purana&f=false Extract of 1969 version]</ref> There are several Kannada and Sanskrit Lingayath puranas inspired by Bhima Kavi's Basava Purana.{{fact|date=June 2019}}

This Telugu purana was first translated into English by [[C.P. Brown]], a British administrator in colonial south India, in 1863.<ref>Multifaceted and Multilayered Orientalism: Translations of Lingayath Puranas by Administrators and Missionaries, Vijayakumar M. Boratti, 2013</ref>

==Translations==
* ''Siva's Warriors: The Basava Purana of Palkuriki Somanatha'', Tr. by Velcheru Narayana Rao.  Princeton Univ Press, 1990. {{ISBN|0691055912}}.

==See also==
* [[Vachana sahitya]]
* [[Jangam]]

== References ==

<references />
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Lingayat literature]]
[[Category:Lingayatism]]
[[Category:Epic poems]]
[[Category:13th-century poems]]
[[Category:Telugu-language literature]]
[[Category:Indian poems]]
[[Category:Works about philosophers]]
[[Category:Indian biographies]]
[[Category:Kannada literature]]


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