"Jangama" means "moving". The Virashaiva or Lingayat community has a priestly subgroup whose members are mostly located in the southern Indian state of Karnataka.
The Virashaivas are a devotional community that emphasizes Shiva's worship as the sole true god; they are fundamentally monotheistic and reject all types of image worship save for Shiva's emblem, the linga.
The Virashaivas were formed by the poet-saint Basavanna, who developed the jangamas as a rival priesthood to care for his community's members, partially in revolt against the prevalent caste system.
The jangamas' primary job is to preside at lifecycle ceremonies for community members, such as birth, coming-of-age, marriage, and death.
Jangamas may marry and have children, but this Virashaiva subcommunity is also a primary source of recruits for the celibate Virashaiva monks (viraktas), who are the community's top religious leaders.
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