In 1982, his work Shankaracharya and Reactionary Philosophy (original title: ಶಂಕರಾಚಾರ್ಯ ಮತ್ತು ಪ್ರತಿಗಾಮಿತನ), a collection of essays, on how Adi Shankara, an 8th-century Hindu theologian, advocated the caste system strongly, destroyed Buddhist viharas and was against education for women, shudras and dalits, was published.

It includes Merchant of Venice as Venisina Vartaka, and others such as Julius Caesar, Hamlet and Othello.. Bhagawan was chosen for the Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement for the year 2013.

[6] At an event in Mysore on 15 February 2015, Bhagawan said that he would burn certain pages of the Hindu scripture Bhagavad Gita.

[7] He said that verse 32 and 33 in chapter 9 of the scripture describes women, vaishyas and shudras as "sinners" [paapayonaha].

[8] Following the murder of another Kannada writer and rationalist M. M. Kalburgi, a Bajrang Dal activist from Bantawala threatened that Bhagawan would be the next target for "mock[ing] Hinduism",[9] with the arrest of the activist, the security at Bhagwan's residence was tightened.