The Indian religious movement of the Vīraśaivas ("heroic Śaivas")—also known as Liṅgāyats ("bearers of a liṅgā")—appeared as a reformist Śaiva sect in Hinduism probably in the middle of the twelfth century in the border regions of Maharashtra and Karnataka. Its founder is said to have been a brahman named Basava or Basavanna (1106–1167), though the main reformist role may have been that of Ekantada Ramayya, a contemporary of Basava. The Vīraśaiva doctrine was probably further elaborated in the following centuries.

The sect now has about six million adherents, mostly in Karnataka, where, though officially classified as "backward," they are a not unimportant group. Vīraśaivism may have appeared as a reaction of Dravidians against Brahmanic (and therefore Aryan) domination. Temple worship, sacrifice, and pilgrimages are condemned as...