History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c81.490

v6.c81.490

It appears from Pāṇini (IV. 3 98)³²⁹ that there were people in his day described as Vāsudevaka and Arjunaka that were devoted to Vāsudeva and Arjuna Patañjali in his Mahābhāṣya mentions several persons and incidents connected with Kṛṣṇa. On Vārtika 6 to Pāṇ. III. 1. 26 the Mahābhāṣya gives two examples 'Kaṁsaṁ ghātayati' (meaning 'he tells the story of the slaughter of Kaṁsa') and 'Balim bhandhayati' (meaning 'he narrates the story of the imprisonment of Bali') In Vārtika 2 to Pāṇ. III. 1. 138 the word 'Govinda' is derived (from go + vinda). On Vārtika 2 to Pāṇ III 2 111 Patañjali gives the example 'Jaghāna Kaṁsaṁ kila Vāsudevaḥ' (Vāsudeva, they say, killed Kaṁsa) and implies that the incident occurred long ago which the speaker could not have seen but was popularly known ³³⁰ This is a quarter of an Upendravajrā or Upajāti verse. Patañjali names Satyabhāmā with its shortened form Bhāmā (Kielhorn, vol I. p 111), the words 'Vāsudevavargyaḥ' and 'Akrūravargyaḥ' occur (on Vārtika 11 on Pāṇ. IV. 2 104) On Pāṇ. IV. 1 114 (ṛṣyandhaka-vṛṣṇi-kurubhyaś-ca) under vārtika 7 Patañjali mentions Ugrasena as a scion of the Andhakas and Vāsudeva and Baladeva of the Vṛṣṇis Patañjali quotes half of an Anuṣṭubh verse 'Saṅkarṣaṇa-dvitīyasya balam Kṛṣṇasya vardhatām' (Kielhorn's ed. vol I. p 426). Patañjali is regarded by most modern scholars as having flourished in the 2nd century B C. (about 150 B. C) Therefore it follows that some poetic work or works that referred to incidents of Kṛṣṇa's career (such as Kaṁsavadha) had been composed some centuries before the Christian era. Vide I A. vol III pp 14-16 for allusions to Kṛṣṇa in the Mahābhāṣya and I A vol. XIV pp 326 ff, for verse quotations in the Mahābhāṣya collected by Kielhorn. In the Ādiparva (chap 1. 256)³³¹ and in Sabhā 33. 10-11 Kṛṣṇa is identified with Vāsudeva and is said to be the Highest Brahma and the source of the universe. The Ghosundi inscription of 2nd or 1st century B C. mentions the hall of worship of Saṅkarṣaṇa and Vāsudeva (E I 16 pp. 25-27, E. I. 22 p. 198, I. A. vol. 61 p. 203) addressed as 'Bhagavat' and 'sarveśvara'. Nanaghat cave inscriptions of about 200 B. C mention both (A. S. W. I. vol. V pp. 60-74). The Besnagar column (Garuda-dhvaja) Vaisnava inscription³³² where the *Bhāgavata* Heliodorus, son of Diya, hailing from Taksaśilā and Yavana ambassador of king Antalikita (Antalkidas) to king Bhāgabhadra mentions Vāsudeva as '*devadeva*'. The preceding items of evidence indicate that the worship of Vāsudeva was prevalent in northern and central India from at least 500 B. C. if not earlier. Vide R G. Bhandarkar's 'Vaisnavism, Śaivism &c.' pp. 1-45 for the various phases of the Kṛṣṇa cult and its antiquity.