temple according to an inscription from Besnagar). In these early inscriptions,
the Bha ̄gavata faith is not in contradiction with the patronage of Vedic rituals
but they do not show with certainty a ritual admixture between these two ten-
dencies, contrary to what has been sometimes interpreted (Meth Srinivasan
1997: 196, about Ghosundi inscription).
The most famous of these epigraphs is the Garud.a pillar inscription of
Besnagar (near Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh) usually dated second or first century
bc(Sircar 1942: 90). Its Prakrit text relates the setting up of a Garud.a pillar in
honor of Va ̄sudeva by a Greek ambassador Heliodora (=He ̄liodo ̄ros) of
Ta[khkha]sila ̄ (=Taxila), the Bha ̄gavata. It mentions that three steps to immor-
tality, when well practiced, lead to heaven: self-control, generosity, and vigilance
(dama,tya ̄ga, and aprama ̄da), three virtues also extolled in the Maha ̄bha ̄rata
(Brockington 1998: 266). Another inscription from Besnagar, in probably the
same period, records the setting up of the Garud.a pillar of an “excellent temple”
(pra ̄sa ̄dottama) of the Lord (Bhagavat) in the twelfth regnal year of a king named
Bha ̄gavata (here a proper name, not the name of a religious tradition), usually
identified with a S ́un.ga king (Jaiswal 1967: 153).
An inscription of Pratapgarh (not far from Besnagar and today in the
Chitorgarh District of Rajasthan) dated probably second century bcrecords, in
a sanskritized Prakrit, the erection of a pillar by Utararakhita who is said to be
a saca ̄bha ̄gavata, “true[?] bha ̄gavata” (Salomon 1998: 240). The Ghosundi
stone inscription in Sanskrit dated first century bc(on the basis of its script) was
found near Nagari (Chitorgarh District). This inscription, usually read with the
help of the Hathibada inscription which bears a similar text, records the build-
ing of a “stone-enclosure for the place of worship” (pu ̄ja ̄s ́ila ̄pra ̄ka ̄ra) called “the
enclosure of Na ̄ra ̄yan.a” for the gods Sam.kars.an.a and Va ̄sudeva by a Bha ̄gavata
king Sarvata ̄ta, performer of an as ́vamedhasacrifice (Sircar 1942: 91–2).
The Nanaghat cave (Maharashtra) inscription of the Sa ̄tava ̄hana queen
Na ̄yanika ̄, usually dated second half of the first century bc, though not explic-
itly using the term bha ̄gavata, begins with an invocation to various gods includ-
ing Sam.kars.an.a and Va ̄sudeva and records the sacrificial fees given to priests for
the queen’s husband’s sacrifices (including an installation of Vedic fires, two
as ́vamedhasand a ra ̄jasu ̄ya) (Sircar 1942: 186–90).
By contrast with that early period, the extant epigraphic documents of the
first three centuries of the Christian era do not seem to specifically mention
Bha ̄gavatas nor any other particular “Vais.n.ava” tradition. In this regard, textual
sources are the only possible evidence for this period. The Bhagavad-gı ̄ta ̄ (prob-
ably first century ad) (Brockington 1998: 147) has been assumed to correspond
to a Bha ̄gavata tendency or even affiliation (Esnoul 1956: 155; Matsubara
1994: 2). However it does not contain the word bha ̄gavata. The Harivam.s ́a, a
“supplement” (khila) to the Maha ̄bha ̄rata (usually dated third to fourth, some-
times first to third centuries ad), mentions a ks.atriyadevotee, Akru ̄ra, paying
hommage to Ananta (the lord of the serpents) who is qualified as Bha ̄gavata,
with “Bha ̄gavata mantras,” an expression which could refer to sacred formulas
of a Bha ̄gavata religious community (Couture 1986: 224–5; Couture 1991: 77;
history of vais.n.ava traditions 231