Making sense of Lingayat vs Veerashaiva debate: What Gauri Lankesh thought

The essential difference between the Lingayata dharma and the Veerashaiva is that the latter accepts the Vedic texts and practices like caste and gender discrimination

Gauri Lankesh, a senior journalist from Karnataka, was shot dead last year. In light of the political debate over granting the Lingayats reservation and a minority status, Business Standard is publishing this piece by the slain journalist to help the reader gain some perspective on the issue. This article was originally published on August 8, 2017, by The Wire.

Are Lingayats the same as Veerashaivas? Are Veerashaivas a part of Hinduism? But aren’t Lingayats claiming they are not Hindus? A debate has been raging on in Karnataka over the last month around these three questions.

Let’s be clear about a couple