LINGAET, Jangam, Lingadhari.
Banjigya, . . . CAN. I Waal, MAna.
Bamjaga, . . . „ Linga•balja-vadoo, TEL.
The Lingaet, a Hindu sect in Southern India, also called Lingadhara, Linghawant, Littganiat, and Jangama. They are Vira Saiva, whose sole object of worship is the lingam, a model of which in stone or gold (Ezekiel xvi. 17) they carry on their arms, or suspend from their necks in caskets of silver or gold, the workmanship of some of them being of great beauty. They are sectarian Saivavi, for their creed does not recognise castes nor acknowledge Brahmans. Their customs and belief were described about the year 1833 by Mr. C. P. Brown, of the Madras Civil Service, in tho Madras Literary Journal. They are very numerous amongst the Canarese people from Bangalore, northwards to Panderpur on the Kistna, and towards Kalliani fort, where the sect was origin ated in the 12th century by a Brahman named Basava and north to Berar. They are largely engaged in agriculture, and as shopkeepers. They are rigid in external ceremonial, but they have loose ideas in morals, probably resulting from what Wilson styles their belief in the equality of women. The sect are sometimes styled Jangam, from jangam, the title of their priesthood. They do not reverence Brahmans nor acknowledge the Vedas, their principles do not recognise caste (though they have established one of avocation), and they deny polytheism and the inferiority of women. Besides the trade divisions, there are also race, sectarian, or social distinctions amongst them. The Aradhya, for instance, are of Brahman birth, and though sonic Aradliya are well versed in Sanskrit, they are not held in esteem by the other Lingaet, who are of Sudm birth. The Samanya or ordinary, the Visesha or extraordi nary, and tho Samanya Bhakta and Visesha Ilhakta, are other sects. The Samanya Bhakta differ from the ordinary Samanya Lingaet only in retaining caste distinctions ; the Visesha Bhakta are puritans, have no caste distinctions, and are bound by a vow to honour their guru.
Their religious book is the 1.3aaava Purana, written in the Canarese tongue, in which language, as also in the Telugu, they have other writings. Lingaet women, in widowhood, re-marry by in ferior ceremonies. In such case the widow returns to her parents' home, and is there re married. The ceremonies are few, and the bridegroom gives small sums, of Rs. 5 or 10, with two cloths. A village head, who will expend about Rs. 200 for his spinster marriage, will expend about Rs. 5 to 100 for his marriage with a widow. The lingam casket of the Lingaet is called Ayigalu. Although authorized by their principles, without castes, they are undoubtedly the most bigoted of all the Hindu sects. They are all engaged in civil avocations. Perhaps in the Madras native army, 20,000 strong, there are not one hundred soldiers of this sect. They are vegetarians, and will not sell, and will not even buy or bring, a creature that is to be killed and used as food. Their. dislike to Brahmans takes many shapes ; at a village near Kaladgi, three miles distant from the Gutparba river, they would not dig a well in their village, lest a Brahman should be attracted to reside, and their wives had to bring all the drinking water from the river bed.
The three words, Om ! Guru, Linga, Jangam, comprise the creed of the sect, and evidently were intended to disavow every part of the Brahmanical priestly tyranny. This mystic phrase is thus expounded. The image (lingam) is the deity ; the jangam is the wearer or fellow-wor shippers ; - and he who breathes the sacred spell in the ear is the guru.
The men of the Lingaet sect have a small casket of gold or silver enclosing a lingam of stone or metal, and suspended from their necks, or fastened to the left arm ; this form is known as the Jangama lingam, meaning the moveable or locomotive. That in the temples is called the Sthavara lingam, meaning the standing or stable lingam.