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14. THE CONCEPT OF AVATARS
The figures of Krishna and Balarama are shown on his coins found in the excavations at Al-Khanuram in Afghanistan. Chakra seems to have come into existence as a weapen of war by this time and is associated with the Vasudevas of the army and the wooden club with the Baladevas.
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Indian-standard silver drachm of the Greco-Bactrian king Agathocles (190-180 BCE)
Obv: supposed to be Balarama, wearing an ornate headress, earrings, sword in sheath, holding a mace in his right hand and a plow-symbol in the left. Greek legend: BASILEOS AGATOKLEOUS "Of King Agathocles".
Rev: supposed to be Vasudeva, with ornate headdress, earrings, sword in sheath, holding kunda(pear-shaped vase) and chakra (wheel). Brahmi legend: RAJANE AGATHUKLAYASA "King Agathocles".
Vaishnavism was most probably an outgrowth of Bhagavata cult. We will now try to see the development of Bhagavat cult.
Encyclopaedia of Hinduism By Nagendra Kumar Singh mentions the following:
In the Vedas we come across a deity called Bhaga, who is the bestower of blessing in Rg Veda 1.164,50; VII.41.4; X.60.12 and in Atharvan Veda II.10.2; V.31.11 2tc. However in these contexts Bhagat is not in anyway related to Vishnu, Narayana or Vasudeva.
Eliot points out that Garbe in his "Introduction to Bhagavat Gita" traces four stages of development of Bhagavat Cult.
1. Development of Sankhya dualistic philosophy into a cult. There are no purely Samkhya schools existing today in Hinduism. Its philosophy is dualistic which regards the universe as consisting of two eternal realities: Purusha (Person) and Prakriti (Nature). This philosphy being resonant with Buddhism and Jainism survived to 300 BC. It was later incorporated as being one of the six orthodox (astika
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