2017-02-20 Mon

At some or the point we might have come across this particular coin of Five Rupee in the given picture! But do you know who is Mahatma Basaveshwara and why he is been portrayed on the coins? Let’s find out!

Basavanna was a Prime Minister to king Bijjala who ruled from 1157 to 1167 over Kalyana. During the Bhakti Movement in South India, many philosophical personalities came into existence. One such who stood up with its own concept was Basavanna. He was a Hindu philosopher, statesman, Kannada poet and a social reformer.

He rejected social discrimination, superstitions and rituals such as the wearing of sacred thread. He is also the founder of the Lingayats. It won’t be wrong to call him as the first Indian free thinker.

At the Belgaum session of the Indian National Congress in 1924, Mahatma Gandhi spoke about Basavanna saying that, ‘It has not been possible for me to practice all precepts of Basaveshwara which he taught 800 years ago and which he also practiced. Eradication of untouchability and dignity of labor were among his core precepts. One does not even find shades of casteism in him. Had he lived during our times, he would have been a saint worthy of worship’.

So to commemorate this philosophical Guru, Indian Government issued a coin of Rupee 5 in 2006. The reverse of the coin portrays the bust of Basavanna facing slightly left and the legend read as ‘Mahatma Basavehswara’ and ‘Bhatkti Kayak Dosoh Samata’.

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