India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c11.s1.11

c11.s1.11

847). If in the second century B.C. these exploits formed part of the Vishṇu legend they must have been considerably older (cf. the example, *Jaghāna Kaṁsaṁ kila Vāsudevaḥ*, *Bhāshya* quoting it as a past event, II.119). Patañjali also refers to the *Vyūha* of Kṛishṇa with his three acolytes: *Janārdanas-tvātmachaturtha eva*, (*Bhāshya*, III.43, on *sūtra* VI. 3.5). He also mentions Kṛishṇa and Saṁkarshaṇa as joint leaders of an army (*Saṁkarshaṇa-dvitīyasya balaṁ Kṛishṇasya vardhatām*, I.426), and refers to the existence of temples dedicated to Keśava and Rāma besides those of Kubera (*Prāsāde Dhanapati-Rāma-Keśavānām*, I.436). In *sūtra* VIII.1. 15 Pāṇini states that the word *dvandva* signifies a pair of persons jointly famous (*abhivyakti*), on which the *Kāśikā* cites as an example *Saṁkarshaṇa-Vāsudevau* (*dvāvapyabhivyaktau sāhacharyeṇa*). Devotional worship to Saṅkarshaṇa and Vāsudeva in connection with a religious shrine is proved by epigraphic evidence of second century B.C. (Nagari Ins., *E.I.*, XXII, p. 198 ff.). The *Arthaśāstra* not only refers to the legend of Kṛishṇa and Kaṁsa (XIV.3) but also prescribes the building of temples sacred to god Apratihata, *i.e.* Vishṇu (II. 4). These examples, although of the Maurya-Śuṅga epoch, show that Kṛishṇa's divinity was already established as a result of centuries of religious development. Patañjali's reference to the Śiva-Bhāgavata religion (II. 387) is also proof of the early antiquity of the Bhāgavata cult, for the Śaivas following the Bhakti cult must have been so named after the Bhāgavatas. Although the evidence from the *Gaṇa-pāṭha* is not unassailable, it must be mentioned that the *Gavāśva* group (II.4.13) reads *Bhāgavatī-Bhāgavatam*, as a compound word in singular number mentioning a female and a male follower of the Bhāgavata religion. Grierson also maintained the antiquity of the Bhāgavata religion in Pāṇini's time on the basis of his knowledge of Vāsudeva as a deity (*J.R.A.S.*, 1909, p. 1122). Sir R. G. Bhandarkar agrees with this view. (*J.R.A.S.*, 1910, p. 170, Vāsudeva of Pāṇini, IV.3.98).