Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c13.s7.12

c13.s7.12

(5) The religious shrines to the worship of Vāsudeva and his associates were built which were known as Mahāsthāna (of Mathura lintel inscription) or Prāsādottama (of Bhilsa-inscription) which clearly point to the paramount position of the shrines of the Bhāgavatas over the shrines of the other deities. It shows that the Bhāgavatas initiated a regular building activity of religious monuments styled as Prāsāda, Devagṛiha, etc. Patañjali also has referred to the shrine of Balarāma and Keśava (prāsāde dhanapati-rāmakeśavānām). In the case of the Ghoṣuṇḍī monument, called the Nārāyaṇa Vāṭaka, the earlist shrine of the Bhāgavatas took the form of an enclosure or an open quadrangle having a stupendous stone railing alround and a stone slab (pūjā-śilā) in the centre. This was known as the Nārāyaṇa Vāṭaka in the popular language of those times. It appears that later on, four gateways began to be added to the railing as mentioned in the Mathura lintel inscription—Chatuḥśalatoraṇa vedikā. [Fig. 165].