History of Indian and Indonesian Art c8.s2.3

c8.s2.3

In centuries preceding the Christian era the Indo-Greek and Indo-Scythian kings of Gandhāra and the Pañjāb had already come under the influence of Indian religions; we have a remarkable instance of this in the pillar erected by Heliodora, ambassador of Antialkidas of Taxila at the court of Vidiśā (Besnagar), about 126 B. C. in honour of Vāsudeva (Kṛṣṇa); Heliodora calls himself a Bhāgavata (Vaiṣṇava). Indian religious symbols appear not only as before on native punch-marked coins, but on various coins of Greek and Indo-Scythian kings from Agathocles (ca. 200 B. C.) onwards. In many cases these symbols had, no doubt, a Buddhist significance, but all are common to Buddhist and Brāhmaṇical usage, and many represent the deities of the cities in which they were struck (e. g. the elephant deity of Kapiśa, and the bull deity, probably Śiva, of Puṣkalāvatī). Religious benefactions by Śaka satraps or their queens are recorded in the Taxila copper plate (ca. 72 B. C.), the Mathurā lion capital inscription (ca. 30 B. C.