Land of Lime

I know this is the kind of post that often creates trouble, especially for myself and even if written responsibly.

But I must write nevertheless, if only to raise questions about what passes for research.

The Hindu had a report from Bidar with the heading: ‘Anubhava Mantapa’ site eludes researchers.
As the story stated:

Basaveshwara, social reformer of the 12th Century, founded Anubhava Mantapa at Basavkalyan with an aim to provide a platform for philosophical debate leading to a casteless society, bring about equality and to popularise the concept of “dasoha” (eating together).

Now, the search for Anubhava Mantapa, the meeting place of all the 12th century Vacanakaras, has been going on for a century and in principle, I think it is a worthwhile search. But we need to clear about what is that we are searching, and then where and how.

Senior officials of Basavakalyan Development Board, on condition of anonymity, said: “We are on the look out for traces of the existence of Anubhava Mantapa here. But it is believed that the mantapa might have existed in and around Tripuranta tank premises, located in the heart of the town.”

They said that at present cleaning work was going on in the tank bed and till date there were no traces of Anubhava Mantapa there. The officials said that based on the vachanas, a well-known painter Murugeppa Chettiar of Gadag had depicted a picture of the proceedings at Anubhava Mantapa with Allama Prabhu, who was the first person to preside over the mantapa, conducting the proceedings. The paintings throw light on the Anubhava Mantapa but again its existence in physical form was questioned.

(Emphasis mine and let me say I do not understand why the officers sought to remain anonymous. But what do I know for I do not see how the paintings help either.)

Well, the quest is no doubt to find the actual building, where Basavanna, Allama and others met. There are two possible approaches: archaeological and literary-historical. If there is a comprehensive archaeological ‘dig’ and investigation of the city of Basavakalyana, there is a small possibility we might find it. That depends on whether Basavanna had actually built a monumental building for Mahamane and Anubhava Mantapa. Given the fact that Basavakalyana is a town inhabited by people in the present, however, the possibility of an archaeological dig ever happening is remote.

So our only hope is to rely on literary texts - vacanas and Virasaiva kavyas. Any testimony from vacanas with regard to the existence of Anubhava Mantapa is likely to be sketchy and not very helpful in establishing its historicity, location and form. More fruitful is an approach wherein all the references to Anubhava Mantapa in Kannada kavyas is compiled and analyzed.

The two doctoral theses referred to in The Hindu report should have focused on that aspect. While I haven’t read these two works, I also haven’t come across any useful research on anubhava mantapa and its historical antecedents.

In my own research, I realized the references to Anubhava Mantapa in kavyas is fairly late (mostly in the post-Vijayanagara texts) and often sketchy. But the bigger problem is the inability of our scholars to see these late texts as precisely that: late texts, which often provide fictive accounts and not historical evidence about the 12th century Anubhava Mantapa. Instead, they see them as historical evidence for its existence.

In the absence of other historical documentation, such as inscriptional evidence that might corroborate these textual references, any speculation on this issue is quite worthless. That’s not, I hope, an irresponsible or offensive statement.