Krishna

====Inscriptions====
[[File:Heliodorus pillar.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Heliodorus Pillar]] in the Indian state of [[Madhya Pradesh]], erected about 120{{nbsp}}BCE. The inscription states that Heliodorus is a ''Bhagvatena'', and a couplet in the inscription closely paraphrases a Sanskrit verse from the ''Mahabharata''.<ref name=allchin309>{{cite book|author1=F. R. Allchin|author2=George Erdosy|title=The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: The Emergence of Cities and States |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q5kI02_zW70C&pg=PA309 |year=1995| publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-37695-2|pages=309–310}}</ref><ref>L. A. Waddell (1914), Besnagar Pillar Inscription{{nbsp}}B Re-Interpreted, ''The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland'', Cambridge University Press, pp.{{nbsp}} 1031–1037</ref>]]
The [[Heliodorus Pillar]], a stone pillar with a Brahmi script inscription, was discovered by colonial era archaeologists in Besnagar ([[Vidisha]], in the central Indian state of [[Madhya Pradesh]]). Based on the internal evidence of the inscription, it has been dated to between 125 and 100{{nbsp}}BCE and is now known after [[Heliodorus (ambassador)|Heliodorus]] – an [[Indo-Greek]] who served as an ambassador of the Greek king [[Antialcidas]] to a regional Indian king, Kasiputra [[Bhagabhadra]].<ref name="Bopearachchi" /><ref name=allchin309 /> The Heliodorus pillar inscription is a private religious dedication of Heliodorus to "[[Vāsudeva]]", an early deity and another name for Krishna in the Indian tradition. It states that the column was constructed by "the ''Bhagavata'' Heliodorus" and that it is a "''Garuda'' pillar" (both are Vishnu-Krishna-related terms). Additionally, the inscription includes a Krishna-related verse from chapter{{nbsp}}11.7 of the ''Mahabharata'' stating that the path to immortality and heaven is to correctly live a life of three virtues: self-[[Temperance (virtue)|temperance]] (''damah''), generosity (''cagah'' or ''tyaga''), and vigilance (''apramadah'').<ref name=allchin309 /><ref name=salomon265>{{cite book|author=Richard Salomon|title=Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the other Indo-Aryan Languages|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XYrG07qQDxkC|year=1998|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-535666-3|pages=265–267}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Benjamín Preciado-Solís|title=The Kṛṣṇa Cycle in the Purāṇas: Themes and Motifs in a Heroic Saga |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JvCaWvjGDVEC&pg=PA34 |year=1984|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-0-89581-226-1|page=34}}</ref> The Heliodorus pillar site was fully excavated by archaeologists in the 1960s. The effort revealed the brick foundations of a much larger ancient elliptical temple complex with a sanctum, ''[[mandapa]]s'', and seven additional pillars.{{sfn|Khare|1967}}{{sfn|Irwin|1974|pp=169–176 with Figure 2 and 3}} The Heliodorus pillar inscriptions and the temple are among the earliest known evidence of Krishna-Vasudeva devotion and [[Vaishnavism]] in ancient India.{{sfn|Susan V Mishra|Himanshu P Ray|2017|p=5}}<ref name="Bopearachchi">{{cite web|author=[[Osmund Bopearachchi]]| year= 2016| url=https://www.academia.edu/25807197|title= Emergence of Viṣṇu and Śiva Images in India: Numismatic and Sculptural Evidence}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Burjor Avari|title=India: The Ancient Past: A History of the Indian Subcontinent from C. 7000 BCE to CE 1200|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WTaTDAAAQBAJ |year=2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-23673-3|pages=165–167}}</ref>

[[File:Rama Krishna at Chilas.jpg|thumb|[[Balarama]] and Krishna with their attributes at [[Chilas]]. The [[Kharoshthi]] inscription nearby reads ''Rama [kri]ṣa''. 1st century CE.<ref name="BRILL"/>]]

The [[Heliodorus Pillar|Heliodorus inscription]] is not isolated evidence. The [[Hathibada Ghosundi Inscriptions]], all located in the state of [[Rajasthan]] and dated by modern methodology to the 1st{{nbsp}}century{{nbsp}}BCE, mention Saṃkarṣaṇa and Vāsudeva, also mention that the structure was built for their worship in association with the supreme deity [[Narayana]]. These four inscriptions are notable for being some of the oldest-known Sanskrit inscriptions.<ref>{{cite book|author=Richard Salomon|title=Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=t-4RDAAAQBAJ |year= 1998|publisher= Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-509984-3|pages=86–87}}</ref>

A [[Mora well inscription|Mora stone slab]] found at the Mathura-Vrindavan archaeological site in [[Uttar Pradesh]], held now in the [[Mathura Museum]], has a Brahmi inscription. It is dated to the 1st{{nbsp}}century{{nbsp}}CE and mentions the five [[Vrishni heroes]], otherwise known as Saṃkarṣaṇa, Vāsudeva, [[Pradyumna]], [[Aniruddha]], and [[Samba (Krishna's son)|Samba]].<ref name=vardpande6>{{cite book|author=Manohar Laxman Varadpande|title=Krishna Theatre in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TaF603WEv4IC&pg=PA6 |year=1982|publisher=Abhinav Publications|isbn=978-81-7017-151-5|pages=6–7}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title= Hindu Gods and Heroes: Studies in the History of the Religion of India|last= Barnett|first= Lionel David|year= 1922 |publisher= J. Murray|page= [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.173123/page/n92 93]|url= https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.173123}}</ref><ref name=Puri1968>{{cite book|author = Puri, B. N.|year = 1968|title = India in the Time of Patanjali|publisher = Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan}} p. 51: The coins of Rajuvula have been recovered from the Sultanpur District...the Brahmi inscription on the Mora stone slab, now in the Mathura Museum,</ref>

The inscriptional record for [[Vāsudeva]] starts in the 2nd century BCE with the coinage of Agathocles and the Heliodorus pillar, but the name of Krishna appears rather later in epigraphy. At the [[Chilas]] II archaeological site dated to the first half of the 1st-century CE in northwest Pakistan, near the Afghanistan border, are engraved two males, along with many Buddhist images nearby. The larger of the two males held a plough and club in his two hands. The artwork also has an inscription with it in [[Kharosthi]] script, which has been deciphered by scholars as ''Rama-Krsna'', and interpreted as an ancient depiction of the two brothers, Balarama and Krishna.<ref>{{cite book|author=Doris Srinivasan|title=Many Heads, Arms, and Eyes: Origin, Meaning, and Form of Multiplicity in Indian Art|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vZheP9dIX9wC |year=1997|publisher=Broll Academic|isbn=90-04-10758-4|pages=214–215 with footnotes}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Jason Neelis|title=Early Buddhist Transmission and Trade Networks: Mobility and Exchange Within and Beyond the Northwestern Borderlands of South Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GB-JV2eOr2UC |year=2010|publisher=Btill Academic|isbn=978-90-04-18159-5|pages=271–272}}</ref>

The first known depiction of the life of Krishna himself comes relatively late, with [[:File:Vasudeva_Carrying_Baby_Krishna_in_Basket_Across_Yamuna_-_Circa_1st_Century_CE_-_Gatashram_Narayan_Temple.jpg|a relief]] found in [[Mathura]], and dated to the 1st–2nd century CE.<ref name="KCIA">{{cite book |last1=Bhattacharya |first1=Sunil Kumar |title=Krishna-cult in Indian Art |date=1996 |publisher=M.D. Publications Pvt. Ltd. |isbn=978-81-7533-001-6 |page=27 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SyyNIL7Ug2kC&pg=PA27 |language=en}}</ref> This fragment seems to show [[Vasudeva]], Krishna's father, carrying baby Krishna in a basket across the [[Yamuna river|Yamuna]].<ref name="KCIA"/> The relief shows at one end a seven-hooded Naga crossing a river, where a ''[[makara]]'' crocodile is thrashing around, and at the other end a person seemingly holding a basket over his head.<ref name="KCIA"/>