Materials for the Study of the Early History of the Vaishnava Sect c8.166

c8.166

The Mahābhārata knows a false Vāsudeva as well as the true Vāsudeva. The false Vāsudeva was a king of the Pauṇḍras.⁴ The true Vāsudeva was Kṛiṣhṇa, the famous prince of the Yādava, Vṛiṣhṇi or Sātvata family of Mathurā. It is written in the Śāntiparva⁵ that the Sātvata or Bhāgavata Dharma was first taught by Kṛiṣṇa Vāsudeva to Arjuna :—