The term Shiva Sharanas/Sarana can be roughly explained as devotees of
Shiva
Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...
. The 12th century Vachanakaras are also known by this name. Sharana is somebody who has surrendered oneself to the will of the Lord. Sharanu is derived from this term and it denotes the action of surrendering to or an act of respecting others. This term is seen in many
Vachanas
Vachana sahitya is a form of rhythmic writing in Kannada (see also Kannada poetry) that evolved in the 11th century and flourished in the 12th century, as a part of the Sharana movement. Madara Chennaiah, an 11th-century cobbler-saint who lived ...
composed by the Vachanakaras namely
Basavanna
Basaveshwara, colloquially known as Basavanna, was a 12th-century CE Indian statesman, philosopher, poet, Lingayat social reformer in the Shiva-focussed bhakti movement, and a Hindu Shaivite social reformer during the reign of the Kalyani Chalu ...
,
Allama Prabhu
Allamaprabhu ( kn, ಅಲ್ಲಮಪ್ರಭು) was a 12th-century mystic-saint and ''Vachana'' poet (called ''Vachanakara'') of the Kannada language, propagating the unitary consciousness of Self and Shiva. Allamaprabhu is one of the cele ...
,
Akka Mahadevi
Akka Mahadevi ಅಕ್ಕ ಮಹಾದೇವಿ (c.1130–1160) was one of the early female poets of the Kannada literature and a prominent person in the Lingayat Shaiva sect in the 12th century. Her 430 extant Vachana poems (a form of sponta ...
and
Madivala Machideva
Madivala Machideva, also known as Veera Ganachari Madivala Machideva, was an Indian warrior of the 12th-century.
Airport
The Old Airport Road that connects Domlur and the old Bangalore airport was renamed as 'Madiwala Machideva Road' in his h ...
. The Vachanakaras, surrendering themselves to the will of Lord Shiva, have glorified and praised the forms of Lord Shiva. Not only this, the term signifies profound philosophical meanings. A sharana is given a prime place in the schematic world of Vachanas. An example for elevated position of a sharana is the following vachana of Basavanna.
Look you, the sarana's sleep is telling of beads;
It's Sivaratri when he wakes and sits;
Wherever he treads is holy ground;
As Siva doctrine whatever he speaks;
The body of Kudala Sanga's Sarana
Is very abode of Siva!
[Vacanas of Bavavanna, translation by L.M.A. Menezes and S.M. Angadi, 1967, p. 293]
References
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Shaivism