BENGALURU:Veerashaivas and Lingayats are one and the same, said historian and writer Prof Chidananda Murthy.
Murthy, also known as ChiMu, told reporters here on Saturday that a section of the Lingayat community is urging the Union government to make Veerashaivas a separate religion.
“Veerashaivas are one among the subcaste of the Hindu religion,” he said.
He added that saint Basavanna himself said that he became a Veerashaiva following Shaiva philosophy.
Basavanna did not establish the Lingayat religion. He was a reformer. Lingayat and Veerashaiva are not two separate communities, Prof Murthy said.