वासनाद वासुदेवस्य वासितं भुवनत्रयं!
सर्व भूत निवासोसि वासुदेव नमोस्तु ते !!
सर्व भूत निवासोसि वासुदेव नमोस्तु ते !!
Krishna is the immanent Divine, the Divine Presence in everyone and in all things. He is also, sovereignly, the aspect of Delight and Love of the Supreme; he is the smiling tenderness and the playful gaiety; he is at once the player, the play and all his playmates.
-The Mother
In kerala study of Bible is called veda padanam. And Bible is called veda pusthakam.And those who study Bible and become padre is called vaidikan. now a days whenever padre is arrested head line Vaidikan arrested. what a fall for word veda.
Look at the caption of this library catalogue it reads vedashabda ratnakaram aka Bible nighandu
This book was published in 1905 by jesuits in kerala. Western academics were then concretising the idea that Krishna's tale was borrowed from Jesus'. Imagine the evangelisation potential! Unfortunately for them, the Heliodorus pillar was excavated in 1910 depicting his conversion to Vaishnavism in 113 BCE!
This book was published only 5 years before the excavation. Imagine their shock!
In fact, Hindus should distribute the book among christians now. Once they are convinced of the similarities, tell them about the archeological evidence! Will be fun.
Heliodorus Greek Ambassador was sent to India by Bactria King Antialcidas Nikephoros, who ruled during 2nd century BCE.
The famous Heliodorus pillar is a stone column that was erected around 113 BCE in central India in Vidisha near modern Besnagar, in Madhya Pradesh state. The pillar site is located only 5 miles from the Buddhist stupa of Sanchi.
Heliodorus Greek Ambassador was sent to the court of the Shunga king Bhagabhadra. Garuda-dhvaja at Vidisha, set up in honour of d 'supreme god Vasudeva" by the Bhagavata.
Heliodorus (a Yavana ambassador from the court of the Indo-Bactrian King, Antialkidas, of Taksasila) in the 14th yr of the reign of Bhagabhadra (131 BCE), 5th Shunga King.
The column erected at least 700 years before the Mehrauli iron pillar by Heliodorus first came to notice in 1877, during an archaeological survey by General Cunningham. The inscription, however, went unnoticed, because of the pillar’s thick coating of red lead (kumkum) paste.
It had been the custom of local fishermen who had worshipped there to smear the column with vermillion paste, assuming the pillar as Khamb Baba!
After few years, some lettering on the lower part of the column was found and the red paste layer was removed.
There are two inscriptions on the pillar.
Inscription on the board by ASI on the base of the pillar
The first inscription describes in Brahmi script the situation of Heliodorus and his relationship to the Shunga Empire and the Indo-Greek Kingdom in prakrit language.
Devadevasa Vasudevasa Garudadhvajo ayam
karito i Heliodorena bhaga
vatena Diyasa putrena Takhasilakena
Yonadatena agatena maharajasa
Amtalikitasa upamta samkasam-rano
Kasiputrasa Bhagabhadrasa tratarasa
vasena chatudasena rajena vadhamanasa
Translation : This Garuda-standard of Vāsudeva, the God of Gods was erected here by the devotee Heliodoros, the son of Dion, a man of Taxila, sent by the Great Yona (Yavana) King Antialkidas, as ambassador to King Kasiputra Bhagabhadra, the Savior son of the princess from Varanasi, in the fourteenth year of his reign.
The inscription is referring to Heliodoros as a Bhagavata (One devoted to Bhagavan), which is a common term used with followers of Bhagavan Vishnu.
Second inscription on the pillar describes in more detail the spiritual content of the faith supported by Heliodorus:
Trini amutapadani su anuthitani
nayamti svaga damo chago apramado
Translation : Three immortal precepts (footsteps), when practiced lead to heaven: self-restraint, charity, consciousness.
Pillar erected by Helidoros was later discovered by Alexander Cunningham and played important role to establish the evidence of Vasudeva Krishna devotion and early Vaishnavism in India. The pillar waw worshipped as Khamba baba by local villagers. From the inscriptions it is seems clear Heliodorus was influenced by Vaishavism, that he could be considered to be a Vaishnava, a follower or worshipper of Lord Vishnu. Heliodorus was presumably not the only foreigner who converted to Vaishnava devotional practices, although he might have been the only one who erected a column, at least one that is still extant. Certainly there must have been many others.
The pillar was surmounted by a sculpture of the eagle Garuda and was apparently dedicated by Heliodorus to Vāsudeva, called god of gods, in front of the temple of Vasudeva.
He, along with Agathocles of the same period, would be one of the earliest recorded people who adapted to Vaishnava tradition of Hinduism.
Coins minted during the time period of Antialcidas depict Dios Krishna with lotus-tipped sceptre, in front of an elephant with a bell (symbol of Taxila), surmouted by Nike holding a wreath, crowning the elephant. The coins carry the inscription “BASILEOS NIKEPHOROU ANTIALKIDOU“.
These coins were also minted at the Pushkalavati mint and carry the same inscription in Kharoṣṭhī script.
This column proves two points in history :
1. Vaishnavism pre-dates Christianity and not the other way round (as assumed by few western historians).
2. Indians were open to foreigners adapting hinduism. They stopped the process only after muslims attacked India and started destroying temples. Antagonism developed between the Muslims and Hindus after 674 CE could to be the main reason behind the non conversion practice.
Conversion of Greek Heliodoros to the Hindu religion of Vaishnavism, by Asit Kumar Haldar 1952
Bengal School
The carefully detailed rendition of a historical scene from the 2nd century BC. As indicated by the title, it depicts the ceremony of the religious conversion of Heliodoros, an Indo-Greek ambassador, to Vaishnavism. Sent to the Indian city of Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh by Antialcidas, the king of Taxila, it is believed that Heliodoros, like others before and after him, was enamored by India; "from the epigraphic records in the Karle, Nasik and Junnar caves and also from various inscriptions, it is known that... the Greeks, Sakas, Pahlvas "succumbed to the charm of Hindu culture and religion."
Heliodoros adopted the title "Bhagavata," and erected a magnificent pillar in Vidisha with an inscription commemorating his visit and devotion, which is likely one of the earliest known inscriptions on Vaishnavism in India.
In Haldar's painting, the Greco-Roman costumes of the subjects, and the deity and pillar in the background, show the process and nuances of this conversion.
Source: Dr Radha Kumud Mookerji, Indian Culture at a Glance, Lucknow: The Department of Education, Government of UP, 1960
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