Rice characterises Vachana poems as brief parallelistic allusive poems, each ending with one of the popular local names of the god Shiva and preaching the common folk detachment from worldly pleasures and adherence to devotion to the god Shiva Shiva Bhakti.
Shipley, Vachana literature comprises pithy pieces of poetic prose in easy to understand, yet compelling Kannada language. Allama Prabhu used poetry, now part of Vachana Sahitya literature, to criticise rituals and social conventions, to break down social barriers and to emphasize moral values and devotional worship of Shiva. He is included among the 'Trinity of Lingayathism', along with Basavanna, the founder of the movement, and Akka Mahadevi, the most prominent woman poet.
