Vasudeva. On the Ghasundi
inscription see R. Chanda, _ut supra_, p. 163 ff., etc.; for the
Nanaghat inscription, _ibidem_ and _Memoirs of the Arch. Survey of
India_, No. 1, with H. Raychaudhuri's _Materials, etc._, p. 68 ff.]

Passing over an inscription at Mathura which records the building of a
part of a sanctuary to the Lord Vasudeva about 15 B.C. by the great
Satrap Sodasa,[27] we note that the grammarian Patanjali, who wrote his
commentary the Mahabhashya upon Panini's grammar about 150 B.C., has
something to say about Krishna Vasudeva, whom he recognises as a divine
being (on IV. iii. 98). He quotes some verses referring to him. The
first (on II. ii. 23) is to the following effect: "May the might of
Krishna accompanied by Samkarshana increase!" Another (on VI. iii. 6)
speaks of "Janardana with himself as fourth," that is to say, Krishna
with three companions: the three may be Samkarshana, Pradyumna, and
Aniruddha, or they may not. Another verse (on II. ii. 34) speaks of
musical instruments being played at meetings in the temples of Rama and
Kesava. Rama is Bala-rama or Bala-bhadra, who is the same as
Samkarshana, and Kesava is a title of Krishna, which was applied also to
Vishnu or Narayana according to the Bodhayana-dharma-sutra, which may be
assigned to the second century B.C. The Ovavai, or Aupapatika-sutra, a
Jain scripture which may perhaps belong to the same period, mentions (Sec.
76) _Kanha-parivvaya_, wandering friars who worshipped Krishna. Thus
literature as well as inscriptions shows that Krishna Vasudeva and his
brother Samkarshana were in many places worshipped as saints of a church
of Vishnu-Narayana about 150 B.C., and that in some parts Vasudeva was
recognised as the Almighty himself about 200 B.C.

[Footnote 27: R. Chanda, _ut supra_, p. 169 f.]

In another passage (on III. i, 26) Patanjali describes dramatic and
mimetic performances representing the killing of Kamsa by Vasudeva.
Altogether his references show that the legend and worship of Vasudeva
bulked largely in the popular mind at this time in India north of the
Vindhya mountains. Vasudeva was adored as the great teacher and
hero-king, in whom the gods Vishnu and Narayana were incarnated; and
he was associated with two great cycles of legend, the one that
related his birth at Mathura, his victory over the tyrant Kamsa, his
establishment of the colony at Dvaraka, and his adventures until his
death and translation to heaven, and the other te