Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c13.s7.1

c13.s7.1

Mathura had become the centre of the *Bhakti* cult several centuries before the Christian era. This cult centred round the worship of Vāsudeva-Kṛiṣhṇa who was regarded as a divine incarnation in human form. Kṛiṣhṇa was considered to be the incarnation of Viṣhṇu. There are several references to the worship of Viṣhṇu in the Ṛigveda. He is mentioned there as Gopa (protector of the cows), Sakhivān (one having companions), which epithets contain the germs of his later biography. In the Pāṇini's Aṣhṭādhyāyī there is reference to the worship of Vāsudeva and his associate Arjuna whose Bhakta or devotee followers were known as Vāsudevaka and Ārjunaka. This clear evidence is indicative of the high antiquity of the religious worship of Kṛiṣhṇa. In the Mahābhārata Śāntiparva there is a long discourse of about thousand ślokas known as the Nārāyaṇī Parva in which we find the worship of God Nārāyaṇa as the regular feature of religious belief and side by side reference is also made to the Sātvata doctrine amongst the Bhāgavatas, the followers of which were known as Ekāntin. Against these religious backgrounds can be explained the large number of sculptures of Brāhmanical gods and goddesses in the Mathura school of sculpture. Particular attention may be drawn to the archæological evidences available in the form of the following epigraphs :—