Materials for the Study of the Early History of the Vaishnava Sect c8.185

c8.185

But in another place it is said that “in the days of yore Vāsudeva killed Kaṃsa”—*Jaghāna Kaṃsam kila Vāsudevaḥ*. It is thus clear that from the remotest times, from the period when the feud between Kaṃsa and his nephew was believed to have taken place, an age which was considered to be an ancient one even by Patañjali, Kṛṣṇa and Vāsudeva were considered to be names of one and the same individual—the slayer of Kaṃsa. Sir R. G. Bhandarkar points out¹ that in Kielhorn’s edition of the *Mahābhāshya* the name ‘Vāsudeva’ takes the place of Kṛṣṇa in one passage; but then, from no manuscript is the name Kṛṣṇa entirely absent. The frequency of the name ‘Vāsudeva’ may be due to the fact which he has himself proved that it was the proper name, while ‘Kṛṣṇa’ was the Gotra name.²