Thontadarya Mutt seer Siddarama Swami on Monday endorsed the lesson on Basaveshwara ‘Vishwaguru Basavannanavaru: Sanskritika Nayaka’ in Class IX Social Sciences textbook.
In the revised text, the Congress government has dropped the word ‘Veerashaiva’, drawing flak from several seers and the Akhil Bharata Veerashaiva Mahasabha.
The Thontadarya seer however defended the govt’s move to drop Veerashaiva word.
Letter to CM
In a letter to the chief minister, the seer said, “Basavanna was a social reformer and rationalist. He defied caste system and vedic ritual and strove for an egalitarian society. It is unfair to tie him down to the Shaiva-Veerashaiva sect which believed in vedic rituals. Hence, I request you to not modify the lesson.”