When Jagaddeva repaired home, his mother met him, and told him when any injury had been done to a disciple of the Saiva faith, his fellow should avenge him or die. When Daksha treated Siva with contumely, Parvati threw herself into the flames, and so, under the wrong offered to the saints, he should not sit down contented: thus saying, she gave him food at the door of his mansion. Thither also came Mallaya and Bommaya, two others of the saints, and they partook of Jagaddeva’s meal. Then smearing their bodies with holy ashes, they took up the spear, and sword, and shield, and marched together against Bijala. On their way a bull appeared, whom they knew to be a form of Basava come to their aid, and the bull went first, even to the court of the king, goring any one that came in their way, and opening a clear path for them. Thus they reached the court, and put Bijala to death in the midst of all his courtiers, and then they danced, and proclaimed the cause why they had put the king to death. Jugaddeva on his way back recalling the words of his mother, stabbed himself. Then arose dissension in the city, and the people fought amongst themselves, and horses with horses, and elephants with elephants, until, agreeably to the curse denounced upon it by Basava and his disciples, Kalyana was utterly destroyed.
Basava continued to reside at Sangameswara, conversing with his disciples, and communing with the divine Essence, and he expostulated with Siva, saying, ‘By thy command have I, and thy attendant train, come upon earth, and thou hast promised to recall us to thy presence when our task was accomplished.’ Then Siva and Parvati came forth from the Sangameswara Lingam, and were visible to Basava, who fell on the ground before them. They raised him, and led him to the sanctuary, and all three disappeared in the presence of the disciples, and they praised their master, and flowers fell from the sky, and then the disciples spread themselves abroad, and made known the absorption of Basava into the emblem of Siva.[8]
A writer in the Madras Literary Journal, upwards of fifty years ago, said that by perusing the books and observing the customs of the Jangams, we might plainly see the grounds of that hatred in which Brahmins held the Jangams. Their leader was the resolute opponent of every braminical principle. The Brahmins inculcated the adoration of many gods. He declared that there was only one sole deity. They venerated goddesses and subordinate beings; they reverenced cows, hawks, monkeys, rats and snakes; they used fasts and feasts, penance and pilgrimage, rosaries and holy water. All these he renounced; he set aside the Vedas which they venerated. They declared Brahmins to be literally gods upon earth, women to be vastly inferior to men in all things, and parias to be utterly abominable. Basava abolished these distinctions. He taught that all men are holy in proportion as they are temples of the great spirit; that by birth all are equal; and amongst those whom the Jangam books describe as saints, we find not a single Brahmin, but many parias and many women. In the braminical writings, women are usually treated in a manner abhorrent to European feelings, but in the Jangama books we find a very different temper.
The three words Guru, Linga, Jangam, are said to comprise the creed of the sect, and were evidently intended to disavow every part of the braminical priestly tyranny. This mystic phrase is thus expounded. The image (lingam) is the deity: the Jangam is the wearer or fellow worshipper: and he who breathes the sacred spell in the ear is the Guru. Thus he supplies the link between the god and the worshipper, and ever after is looked upon with affection as the true parent: even more respected than the father according to the flesh. For, says the Jangam, I am one with the deity, and he alone is my father who conferred this unity on me.
“Brahmins frequently allege that the Jangams are a depraved sect, who are guided by the Tantras or heretical books,” says Mr. Brown, “but we should not incautiously believe this. The Jangams are in all respects opposed to licentiousness, which is the main-spring of the Tantras. The Jangams came from the west, the Tantricas from the north. The Jangams adore the Linga, and abhor Maia the goddess of delusion (Venus or Cali, as Devi), who is expressly the goddess (Yoni, or Bhaga Malini) of the Tantricas. The Tantricas take no notice of the Lingam; they adore Betala (the devil), and other malevolent powers. The Jangams honour Siva as Daxina Murti, or the beneficent and loving deity. The Tantricas say they aim at a perfect release from fleshly lusts. The Jangams do the same. But the former being hypocrites pretend to yield to their passions as the path to freedom. Whereas the Vira Saivas call on their votaries to deny themselves in all respects. They attend especially to the rules concerning funerals, marriage; and placing infants in the creed. On all these points the Tantras are silent. The Tantras inculcate the use of flesh, wine, magic and debauchery, the Jangam creed abhors these. The Jangams are an avowed sect; the Tantricas assume the guise of Smartas. The Jangams train up their children in their creed; the Tantricas merely admit proselytes. The Jangams are sober, devout and humble; the Tantricas are debauched, atheistical and proud. The Jangams are rigid puritans: the Tantricas are licentious atheists. Herein their depravity resembles that of the worshippers of Isis in Rome, the St. Simonians in France, the Illuminati, and other philosophers of Germany, the followers of Cagliostro in Italy, and the Nessereahs at Kerrund in Persia.”
With a few touches of his felicitous pencil, Shakespeare has given a view of their system, or philosophy which is the Sacti Puja or Worship of Power.
“Thus everything includes itself in Power:
Power into will: will into Appetite:
And Appetite, an universal wolf,
So doubly seconded with Will and Power