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Book Review
Seeker of truth
PREMA NANDAKUMAR
Biography of Allama Prabhu and a selection of his vachanas in translation
ALLAMA PRABHU — A Study in Philosophy with Translation of Poems: Basrur Subba Rao; Shri Mangesh Publishers, 102, Maangalya Residences, 6/1, Benson Cross Road, Bangalore-560046. Rs. 220.
An entrant to the IAS who nevertheless opted to live abroad for three decades and yet made the philosophy of Kannada mysticism his life’s anchor is an appropriate person to present Allama Prabhu to an English audience. For, Basrur Subba Rao can go beyond the Veerashaiva hymnology and look into the transcendent Guheshwara envisioned by Allama. According to him the approach of Basava and Allama Prabhu has its own special space in Veerasaivism. Neither of the two use the term, “Veerasaiva”, which seems to have come into vogue only in the 14th century. Their view of Linga and Shiva had nothing to do with the Shiva of the Puranas and the Agamas.
Religious democracy
Even placing Allama within the bracket of the Shatsthala doctrine is not tenable, says Rao. As the centuries passed by, devotees bid goodbye to the principles enunciated by Allama, and took to temple worship and other ritualism.
Using the term “Shiva” for the Supreme without attributes is nothing new in Indian mysticism. It was used by the Tamil Siddhas much earlier than Allama Prabhu and Basava. The Siddhas speak of “Sivam”, not “Sivan”.
The stories of the 63 Nayanmars (known as Purathanas in Karnataka) injected enthusiasm for a religious democracy that rejected caste and opened the doors for all people to experience Siva. So we came to have the priceless phenomenon of vachanakaras. Rao analyses in clear terms the manner in which Allama recreated the Shunyavada of Nagarjuna as an experiential possibility, though he had to facilitate the aspirants by internalising familiar rituals (like performing abhisheka to linga): “He (Allama Prabhu) is the quintessential analyst, a mimasaka, logician and rationalist, a seeker of truth, meditating, analyzing, rejecting, criticizing and cajoling men to seek the God lying within themselves. His integrity is his shield, his intellect the sword.”
The arguments put forth by the author to separate Allama Prabhu from mainstream Veerasaivism as it is generally understood cannot be brushed aside and needs a vaster plank for discussion of creedal pluralism within the space of Indian Saivism. Meanwhile, the present volume brings us a biography of Allama and a selection of his vachanas (happily accompanied by the original Kannada) with notes on the vachanakara’s views on creation, knowledge, worship and the rest.
Allama is the perfect exemplar of Jnana Yoga and wants us to perceive the transcendent Guheshwara “hidden in the shadow of knowledge.” With a sheaf of photographs from Balligave (the birthplace of Allama), Rao’s Allama Prabhu is most welcome for the shelves of Indian philosophy and mysticism.
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