North Indian Inscriptions

RELIGIOUS HISTORY

says: “When in days of yore the Earth became submerged in the waters and lost to the view, I found her out and raised her from the depths of the Ocean. For this reason the deities adored me by the name of Gōvinda.” In other words, gām(=pṛithivīm) vindat=īiti Gōvindaḥ. The same story or explanation is given in the Ādiparvan (Chap. 21, verse 12).

       There is, however, no evidence of an irrefragable character to show that Gōpāla-Kṛishṇa was identified with Vishṇu. There is evidence enough that the story of Kṛishṇa was known. One has only to read the Bhitarī pillar inscription (No. 31 below) of Skandagupta where the Gupta king is represented to have seen his mother who was in tears, just as Kṛishṇa saw Dēvakī, after destroying his enemy. But this looks like Vāsudēva-Kṛishṇa. There is, however, no very clear instance of Gōpāla-Kṛishṇa being taken as one with Vishṇu. Attention may again be drawn to a Mandasor inscription (No. 14 below) which refers in line 5 of its second fragment to a temple being consecrated to Kṛishṇa. The question arises: whether he is Vāsudēva-Kṛishṇa or Gōpāla-Krishṇa. Verse 11 of the first fragment mentions Vāsudēva and raises the presumption that this Kṛishṇa is Vāsudēva-Kṛishṇa. On the other hand, we have to note that verse 3 of the same record refers to a festival of Indra that was approved by Kṛishṇa. This Kṛishṇa cannot but be Gōpāla-Kṛishṇa, as has been pointed out in our treatment of the inscription. Because Kṛishṇa is described in the Harivaṁśa and other Purāṇas as being surrounded by cows and cowherds and is represented as lifting up Mount Gōvardhana to afford refuge to them from the havoc caused by the deluge sent by Indra, whose festival he refused to perform. We are further told in most of these Purāṇas that he thereby proved himself to be Gavām=Indraḥ and came therefore to be known as Gōvinda. This is, of course, to justify Gōpala-Kṛishṇa also being so named. Now, in this record we are told that on the fifth of the bright half of Āśvina, while the festival of Indra as approved by Kṛishṇa was being celebrated, the temple consecrated to Kṛishṇa was completed. The presumption is strong that in both cases Kṛishṇa is one and the same, namely, Gōpāla-Kṛishṇa. In other words, the Mandasor inscription indicates that in the Gupta epoch, Vishṇu was Purusha-Nārāyaṇa, Vāsudēva-Kṛishṇa and also Gōpāla-Kṛishṇa rolled into one.

       When the Vedic Vishṇu, Purusha-Nārāyaṇa, Vāsudēva-Kṛishṇa and Gōpāla-Kṛishṇa came to be syncretised into one and the same god, namely, Vishṇu, it is but natural that a new mythology should spring up connected with these divinities. Let us first take up Vishṇu as Vishṇu. Was he connected with any new mythological incident in the Gupta period? This is the first question which we have to ask ourselves. In this connection we have to take note of the opening verse of the Junāgaḍh inscription (No. 28 below). It may be translated thus: “Victorious is that Vishṇu, who, for the sake of the happiness of (Indra) the lord of the gods, snatched away the royal dignity of Bali, which was admitted to be worthy of enjoyment and which was more than once wrested (from them); who is the permanent abode of (of goddess) Lakshmī whose resting-place is the water-lily; who overcomes affliction and is the consummate victor.” Here the points that are most noteworthy are two: (1) the snatching away of Śrī (royal dignity) of Bali by Vishṇu and the restoration of the same to Indra; and (2) Vishṇu being described as the permanent abode of Lakshmī whose resting place is the water-lily. The second point we will deal with later on. The first point is obviously connected with Bali, the lord of the Asuras, son of Virōchana and grandson of Prahlāda, who snatched away the power of Indra. The story connected with him has been narrated in the various Purāṇas. At the importunate entreaties of the gods and sages, we are told, Vishṇu promised to wrest back the sovereignty (Śrī) from Bali. Accordingly he was born as Vāmana (Dwarf) and went in person to the sacrificial session initiated by Bali and made the very humble request of being granted as much space as could be covered with his three strides as Vāmana. Bali at once and with