Indo-Greek
coinage
Krishna as Vasudeva on a coin of Agathocles of Bactria, c. 180 BCE
Around
180 BCE the Indo-Greek king Agathocles issued some coinage
bearing images of deities that are now interpreted as being related to Vaisnava imagery in India. The deities displayed on the coins
appear to be Vishnu's
avatars Balarama-Sankarshana with attributes
consisting of the Gada mace
and the plow,
and Vasudeva-Krishna with
attributes of the Shankha (conch)
and the Sudarshana Chakra wheel. According
to Bopearachchi, the headdress
on top of the deity is actually a misrepresentation of a shaft with a half-moon
parasol on top (chattra).
Heliodorus
Pillar in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh,
erected about 120 BCE. The inscription states
that Heliodorus is a Bhagvatena, and a couplet in the inscription
closely paraphrases a Sanskrit verse from the Mahabharata.
The
ancient Sanskrit grammarian Patanjali in
his Mahabhashya makes
several references to Krishna and his associates found in later Indian texts.
In his commentary on Pāṇini's verse 3.1.26, he also uses the word Kamsavadha or the
"killing of Kamsa", an important part of the legends surrounding
Krishna.
Heliodorus
pillar and other inscriptions:-
A
pillar with a Brahmi script inscription was discovered by colonial era
archaeologists in the central Indian state of Madhya
Pradesh. Using modern techniques, it has been dated to between 125 and
100 BCE, and traced to an Indo-Greek who served
as an ambassador of the Greek king Antialcidas to
a regional Indian king. Named after the Indo-Greek, it is now known as
the Heliodorus pillar. Its
inscription is a dedication to "Vasudeva", another name for Krishna
in the Indian tradition. Scholars consider the "Vasudeva" to be
referring to a deity, because the inscription states that it was constructed by
"the Bhagavata Heliodorus" and that it is a "Garuda pillar"
(both are Vishnu-Krishna-related terms). Additionally, the inscription includes
a Krishna-related verse from chapter 11.7 of
the Mahabharata stating that the path to immortality and
heaven is to correctly live a life of three virtues: self-temperance (damah),
generosity (cagah or tyaga), and vigilance (apramadah).
The
Heliodorus inscription is not an isolated evidence. Three Hathibada
inscriptions and one Ghosundi inscription, all located in the state of Rajasthan and dated by modern
methodology to the 1st century BCE, mention Samkarsana and Vasudeva, also mention
that the structure was built for their worship. These four inscriptions are
notable for being some of the oldest-known Sanskrit inscriptions.
A
Mora stone slab found at the Mathura-Vrindavan archaeological site in Uttar Pradesh, held now in the Mathura
Museum, has a Brahmi inscription. It is dated to the 1st century CE and lists
five Vrishni heroes: Balarama, Krishna, Pradyumna, Aniruddha,
and Samba. Another terracotta plaque
from the same site shows an infant being carried by an adult over his head,
similar to the legend about Krishna's birth.
Many Puranas tell Krishna's life story
or some highlights from it. Two Puranas, the Bhagavata Purana and the Vishnu Purana,
contain the most elaborate telling of Krishna's story, but the life
stories of Krishna in these and other texts vary, and contain significant
inconsistencies. The Bhagavata Purana consists of twelve
books subdivided into 332 chapters, with a
cumulative total of between 16,000 and 18,000 verses depending on the version. The
tenth book of the text, which contains about 4,000 verses (~25%) and is
dedicated to legends about Krishna, has been the most popular and widely
studied part of this text.
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