The butterfly that had no memory of the caterpillar

There are different versions about the pre-saint life of Allama. Some consider Allama as Shiva himself, arriving in the world to teach the way of freedom.

Harihara, a brilliant fifteenth-centruy poet who wrote the lives of the veerashaiva saints in what is known as "ragaLe", says...

Allama, talented temple-drummer, son of a dance teacher, falls in love with Kamalate ('love's tendril'). In marriage, they were new lovers; their love was without 'end, beginning, or middle'; 'drowned in desire' knowing no weight or impediment. But Kamalate was suddenly stricken down by a fever and died soon after. Allama wanders in his grief like a madman, benumbed, his memory eclipsed, his heart broken, calling out for the dead Kamalate, in field, forest, village. While he was sitting in an out-of-town grove, downcast, scratching the ground idly with his toenail, he saw something: the golden kalasa (pinnacle, cupola) of  atemple jutting forth from the earth, like 'the nipple-peak on the breast of the Godess of Freedom'. When he got the place dug and excavated, however, there was no Kamalate. But before him stood the closed door of a shrine. Careless of consequence, Allam kicked the dorr open, and entered. He saw before him a yogi in a trance, concentrated on the linga. His eyes and face were all aglow, his locks glowing, a garland of rudrakshi seeds round his neck, serpent earrings on his ears. The yogi's name was Animisayya (the One without eyelids, the open-eyed one). While Allama stood there astonished, over the linga, Animisayya gave into his hand a linga. Even as he handed over the linga, Animisayya's life went out. In that moment of transference, Allama became enlightened, and wandered henceforth where the Lord called him and where the Lord took him.

This experience of the secret underground, the cave-temple, is what is probably celebrated in the name Guheshwara or Lord of Caves, which appears in almost every Allama vachana.

Other vacana saints recognized him instantly as the Master. Basavanna, Mahadevi, Chennabasava, Siddharama, Muktaayakka and others considered him their guru. Basava was known as Anna 'elder brother', Mahadevi as Akka 'elder sister', but Allama was Prabhu or Master to everyone. A later poet, Chamarasa, devoted an entire work Prabhulingaleele to the Master's life, miracles and teachings. The shoonya-sampaadane or 'the Achievement of Nothingness', an important source of Veerashaiva thought and poetry, was written round the life and work of Allama, and describes his encounters with contemporary saints. According to all accounts, Kalyana was established as the rallying centre of veerashaiva saints by Allama's spiritual presence as much as by Basavanna's efforts as minister of state. The company of saints, presided over by Allama, came to be known as anubhava mantapa or 'the mansion of Experience'.

Allama's vachanas say little of his early life, passions or conflicts. His vachanas were all uttered after he reached full enlightenment. Unlike others (e.g. Basavanna), he leaves few traces of early struggle or his biographical past. In a saint like Allama, 'the butterfly has no memory of the caterpillar'.

Source: 'Speaking of Siva' - Translations by A. K. Ramanujan