Read the following excerpt carefully and answer the questions that follow:
RITUALS AND THE REAL WORLD
Here is a vachana composed by Basavanna;
When they see a serpent carved in stone, they pour milk on it.
If a real serpent comes, they say: ‘kill’, ‘kill’.
To the servant of the god who could eat if served they say; ‘Go away’, ‘Go away’!
But to the image of the god which cannot eat they offer dishes of food.
i. Who was Basavanna?
ii. From which cult & region he belonged to?
iii. Describe Basavanna’s attitude towards rituals.
i. Basavanna was a Jaina and the minister of Chalukya King. His followers were called the Virashavias or Lingayats. They worshipped Shiva as a linga.
ii. His cult and region belonged to Karnataka.
iii. Basavanna's attitude towards ritual challenged the idea of caste and the pollution attributed to the Brahmanas. He questioned the theory of rebirth. He did not practice funerary rights and gave stress on post-puberty marriage