Vāsudeva

Vāsudeva (; ), also known as Vāsudeva-Krishna () or Krishna-Vāsudeva, was a deified Vrishni hero of the Vrishni-clan, and may well have been a historical ruler in the region of Mathura. "Historically, the Vrishņis must have been a line of ancient kings in the Mathura region, but at an early period their memory had been mingled with myth. Vasudeva and Krishņa, who were originally folk deities of the region, may well have been kings of this dynasty as well." The movement of Vāsudeva was one of the major independent religious movements alongside those of Narayana, Shri and Lakshmi, which later coalesced to form Vaishnavism.

His religious following developed after the Vedic period, and was the first expression of what was to become Vaishnavism. It was one of the earliest forms of personal deity worship in India, and is attested from around the 4th century BCE, when he was already considered as a deity, as he appears in Pāṇini's writings in conjunction with Arjuna as an object of worship. By the end of the 2nd century BCE, Vāsudeva was considered as Devadeva, the "God of Gods", the Supreme Deity, whose emblem was the mythical bird Garuda, as known from the Heliodorus pillar inscription.

After the movement of Vāsudeva had been established, the tribe of the Vrishnis fused with the tribe of the Yadavas, who had their own hero-god named Krishna. Vāsudeva was fused with Krishna, becoming Vāsudeva-Krishna (), or Krishna-Vāsudeva. It is unknown at what point of time precisely Vāsudeva came to be associated with "Krishna," but the association between the names "Vāsudeva" and "Krishna" starts to appear with the Mahabharata and the Harivamsa, both completed in the 3rd century CE, where Krishna is called "Vāsudeva," a patronymic referring to his father Vasudeva Anakadundubhi.

The fused religious movement of Vāsudeva-Krishna became a major component of the amalgamated worship of Krishna, who was incorporated into Vaishnavism as the 8th incarnation of Vishnu. According to the Vaishnava doctrine of the avatars, Vishnu takes various forms to rescue the world, with Vāsudeva-Krishna understood as one of the most popular ones.

Historical development

The object of the Vāsudeva worship was initially the warrior hero Vāsudeva of the Vrishni clan. Vāsudeva eventually fused with Krishna and became known as Vāsudeva-krishna and incorporated into Vaishnavism. According to Srinivasan, the hero deity Vāsudeva may have evolved into a Vaishnavite deity through a step-by-step process: deification of the Vrishni heroes, of whom Vāsudeva was the leader association with the God Narayana-Vishnu incorporation into the Vyuha concept of successive emanations of the God.

This process lasted from the 4th century BCE when Vāsudeva was an independent deity, to the 4th century CE, when Vishnu became much more prominent as the central deity of an integrated Vaishnava movement, with Vāsudeva-Krishna regarded as one of his manifestations.

Overall, "Vaishnavite Hinduism is believed to have originated in the 4th century BC in the cult of Vāsudeva-Krishna, which was then grafted in the 2nd century AD onto the cult of Narayana. By the 4th century, Vishnu's prominence increased considerably. He was now regarded as a member of the Trimurti, the cosmic triad of Gods, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva".

Vāsudeva-cult

"Vāsudeva" is the first name of a deity to appear in the epigraphical record and in the earliest literary sources such as the writings of Pāṇini. The movement of Vāsudeva was one of the major independent religious movements alongside those of Narayana, Shri and Lakshmi, which later coalesced to form Vaishnavism.

The cult of Vāsudeva developed after the Vedic period, and was the first expression of what was to become Vaishnavism. The cult of Vāsudeva may have evolved from the worship of a historical figure belonging to the Vrishni clan in the region of Mathura. It was one of the earliest forms of personal deity worship in India, and is attested from around the 4th century BCE, when he was already considered as a deity, as he appears in Pāṇini's writings in conjunction with Arjuna as an object of worship, Pāṇini explaining that a vāsudevaka is a devotee (bhakta) of Vāsudeva. Some early scholars equate it with Bhagavatism.

By the end of the 2nd century BCE, Vāsudeva was considered as Devadeva, the "God of Gods", the Supreme Deity, whose emblem was the mythical bird Garuda, as known from the Heliodorus pillar inscription.

Vāsudeva was one of the five "Vrishni heroes." In literature, the Vrishni heroes and Vāsudeva are mentioned by Pāṇini in Astadhyayi verse 6.2.34 around the 4th century BCE, while Krishna is referred to as Krishna Varshneya in verse 3.187.51 of the Mahabharata. Epigraphically, the deified status of Vāsudeva is confirmed by his appearance on the coinage of Agathocles of Bactria (190–180 BCE) and by the devotional character of the Heliodorus pillar inscription.

The Buddhist Pali work Niddesa contains a list of religious sects, including the followers of the Vāsudeva and Baladeva.

Vāsudeva-Krishna After the movement of Vāsudeva had been established, the tribe of the Vrishnis fused with the tribe of the Yadavas, who had their own hero-god named Krishna. Vāsudeva was fused with Krishna, becoming Vāsudeva-Krishna (), or Krishna-Vāsudeva. It is unknown at what point of time precisely Vāsudeva came to be associated with "Krishna," but the association between the names "Vāsudeva" and "Krishna" starts to appear with the Mahabharata and the Harivamsa, both completed in the 3rd century CE, where Krishna is called "Vāsudeva," a patronymic referring to his father Vasudeva Anakadundubhi. The early Krishna is described in the Mahabharata as the chief of the Yadavas kingdom of Dvārakā (modern Dwarka in Gujarat).

To this day, a group of religious mendicants known as Vasudevs are people believed to be incarnation of Krishna.

Amalgation into Vaishnavism The cult of Krishna-Vāsudeva ultimately merged with various traditions such as Bhagavatism, the cult of Gopala-Krishna and the cult of Bala-Krishna, to form the basis of the current tradition of monotheistic religion of Krishna:

Over centuries, the cult of Vāsudeva transformed into Vaishnavism."The origin of Vaiṣṇavism as a theistic sect can by no means be traced back to the Ṛgvedic god Viṣṇu. In fact, Vaiṣṇavism is in no sense Vedic in origin. (...) Strangely, the available evidence shows that the worship of Vāsudeva, and not that of Viṣṇu, marks the beginning of what we today understand by Vaiṣṇavism. This Vāsudevism, which represents the earliest known phase of Vaiṣṇavism, must already have become stabilized in the days of Pāṇini (sixth to fifth centuries bce)." in

From the 4–5th century, Vāsudeva-Krsna is identified with Vishnu and Narayana, and fuses with Gopala-Krishna:

The fused religious movement of Vāsudeva-Krishna became a major component of the amalgamated worship of Krishna, who was incorporated into Vaishnavism as the 8th incarnation of Vishnu. According to the Vaishnava doctrine of the avatars, Vishnu takes various forms to rescue the world, with Vāsudeva-Krishna understood as one of the most popular ones.

The association of Vāsudeva-Krishna with Narayana (Vishnu) is confirmed by the Hathibada Ghosundi Inscriptions of the 1st century BCE. It is generally thought that "by the beginning of the Christian era, the cult of Vāsudeva, Vishnu and Narayana amalgamated". By the 2nd century CE, the "avatara concept was in its infancy", and the depiction of the four emanations of Vishnu (the Chatur-vyūha), consisting in the Vrishni heroes including Vāsudeva and minus Samba, starts to become visible in the art of Mathura at the end of the Kushan period.

The Harivamsa describes intricate relationships between Krishna Vāsudeva, Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha that would later form a Vaishnava concept of primary quadrupled expansion, or chatur vyuha.

Vāsudeva is also associated with the qualities of gentleness and strength."Gentleness and strength are associated with Vāsudeva, knowledge with Samkarsana, (Narasimha) female power with Pradyumna (Varaha) and ferociousness and sovereignty with Aniruddha (Kapila)."

Iconographic transition

Various early statues showing a deity with the attributes of Vāsudeva have long been attributed to Vishnu. But it is now thought that statues dedicated to the worship of Vishnu only started to appear from the 4th century CE during the Gupta Empire period, derived from, and using the attributes of Vāsudeva, but adding an aureole starting at the shoulders: the Vishnu Caturbhuja ("Four-Armed Vishnu") statues. The statues before the 4th century CE have been reattributed to Vāsudeva, a period during which Vāsudeva seems to have been much more important than Vishnu.

Other statues of Vishnu show him as three-headed (with an implied fourth head in the back), the Visnu Vaikuntha Chaturmurti or Chaturvyuha ("Four-Emanations") type, where Vishnu has a human head, flanked by the muzzle of a boar (his avatar Varaha) and the head of a lion (his avatar Narasimha), two of his most important and ancient avatars, laid out upon his aureole. Recent scholarship considers that these "Vishnu" statues still show the emanation Vāsudeva Krishna as the central human-shaped deity, rather than the Supreme God Vishnu himself."Because they date to a period when the Pancharatra sect was most influential, these two images are probably best identified as Chaturvyuha (or Four-Vyuha) Vishnu. The central face is that of Vishnu's most supreme, most transcendent vyuha, or emanation, known as Vāsudeva. The subsequent, less abstract vyuhas, in the form of a lion and a boar, appear at either side, with another vyuha implied at the back. The positions of the lion and boar heads differ in these two pieces, indicating that there was some disagreement about the way the viewer should read such an icon."

Devotion A popular short prayer for worshipping Vāsudeva is Dvadasakshari ("the twelve-syllable mantra"), consisting in the recitation of the phrase "Om Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya" () (in devanagari: ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय), which is one of the most popular Hindu mantras, and one of the most important mantras in Vaishnavism. It means "Om, I bow to Lord Vāsudeva", who is variously understood as Krishna or Vishnu.

Epigraphy and sculptures

Vāsudeva

Identification with Herakles (3rd c. BCE)

Arrian in his work Indica (2nd c. CE), quotes the earlier work of the same name by Megasthenes (3rd c. BCE) which claims that Herakles, son of Zeus had come to India and was honoured by the locals as an 'indigenous' Indian deity. This reference is understood to be to Vāsudeva.

However Arrian himself does not consider the stories about Herakles credible, stating:

It has been proposed that Megasthenes misheard the words "Hari-Krishna" as "Herakles". According to Upinder Singh, "Vāsudeva-Krishna was the Indian God bearing the closest resemblance to the Greek God Herakles."

Heliodorus pillar and Temple of Vāsudeva (circa 115 BCE)

The cult of Vāsudeva soon extended well beyond the area of Mathura, as shown by the Heliodorus pillar, established by an Indo-Greek ambassador to the court of an Indian king in Vidisha, in the name of Vāsudeva.

This pillar, offered by the Greek ambassador and devotee Heliodorus, also shows that Vāsudeva even received dedications from the Indo-Greeks, who also represented him on the coinage of Agathocles of Bactria (190–180 BCE). The Heliodorus pillar, joining earth, space and heaven, is thought to symbolize the "cosmic axis" and express the cosmic totality of the Deity. Next to the pillar, a large Temple of Vāsudeva was discovered, where he was celebrated together with his deified kinsmen, the Vrishni heroes.