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14. THE CONCEPT OF AVATARS
As we have seen the Jains give the title Vasudeva to a series of supermen, and a remarkable legend states that a king called Paundraka who pretended to be a deity used the title Vasudeva and ordered Krishna to cease using it, for which impertinence he was slain. This clearly implies that the title was something which could be detached from Krishna and not a mere patronymic.
Indian writings countenance both etymologies of the word. As the name of the deity they derive it from vas to dwell, he in whom all things abide and who abides in all.
In Ghosundi in Rajputana we have an inscription referring to deities called Samkarsana and Vasudeva. This is dated around 200 BC.
At any rate the Vasudeva cult was popular by the 2nd century as is shown by the Garuda Pillar.
Column of Heliodorus
113 BC, Besnagar, Madhya Pradesh
This is the famous Garuda column which is supposed to prove the existence of Vishnu worship before
the Christian era. "Heliodorus' Column publicly acknowledged in the most conspicuous way that Vasudeva, or
Krishna, as the "God of gods." Does it?
This inscribed Garuda column, in Besnagar near Udayagiri, was erected in honor of Vasudeva (an early name for Vishnu) by a person named Heliodorus, who was a Bactro-Greek envoy from Gandhara
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