The belief of Vāsudeva and Saṃkarṣaṇa may have evolved from the worship of a historical figure belonging to the Vrishni clan in the region of Mathura. They are leading members of the five "Vrishni heroes".
It is thought that the hero deity Saṃkarṣaṇa may have evolved into a Vaishnavite deity through a step-by-step process: 1) deification of the Vrishni heroes, of whom Vāduseva and Saṃkarṣaṇa were the leaders 2) association with the God Narayana-Vishnu 3) incorporation into the Vyuha concept of successive emanations of the God. Epigraphically, the deified status of Saṃkarṣaṇa is confirmed by his appearance on the coinage of Agathocles of Bactria (190-180 BCE). Later, the association of Saṃkarṣaṇa with Narayana (Vishnu) is confirmed by the Hathibada Ghosundi Inscriptions of the 1st century BCE. By the 2nd century CE, the "avatara concept was in its infancy", and the depiction of the four emanations of Vishnu (the Chatur-vyūha), consisting in the Vrishni heroes including Vāsudeva, Saṃkarṣaṇa and minus Samba, starts to become visible in the art of Mathura at the end of the Kushan period.
The presence of these pillar capitals, found near the Heliodorus pillar, suggests that the Bhagavata belief, although centered around the figures of Vāsudeva and Samkarsana, may also have involved the worship of other Vrishni deities.
Early on, the belief of Smarkasana is associated with the abuse of wine, and the Bacchanalian features of the belief of Dionysus are also found in the belief of Saṃkarṣaṇa. The Mahabharata mentions the Bacchanalian orgies of Baladeva, another name of Smarkasana, and he is often depicted holding a cup in an inebriated state.
The Naneghat inscription, dated to the 1st century BCE, mentions both Samkarshana and Vāsudeva, along with the Vedic deities of Indra, Surya, Chandra, Yama, Varuna and Kubera. This provided the link between Vedic tradition and the Vaishnava tradition. Given it is inscribed in stone and dated to 1st-century BCE, it also linked the religious thought in the post-Vedic centuries in late 1st millennium BCE with those found in the unreliable highly variant texts such as the Puranas dated to later half of the 1st millennium CE. The inscription is a reliable historical record, providing a name and floruit to the Satavahana dynasty.
Samkarshana, the Vrishni elder and the leading divinity until the rise to precedence of Vāsudeva, is known to appear on the coinage of the Indo-Scythian rulers Maues and Azes I during the 1st century BCE. These coins show him holding a mace and a plough.
"Sanskritdictionary.com: Definition of saṃkarṣaṇa". www.sanskritdictionary.com. http://www.sanskritdictionary.com/sa%E1%B9%83kar%E1%B9%A3a%E1%B9%87a/245267/1
Vāsudeva and Krishna "may well have been kings of this dynasty as well" in Rosenfield, John M. (1967). The Dynastic Arts of the Kushans. University of California Press. pp. 151–152 and Fig.51. https://books.google.com/books?id=udnBkQhzHH4C&pg=PA151
Vāsudeva and Krishna "may well have been kings of this dynasty as well" in Rosenfield, John M. (1967). The Dynastic Arts of the Kushans. University of California Press. pp. 151–152 and Fig.51. https://books.google.com/books?id=udnBkQhzHH4C&pg=PA151
Williams, Joanna Gottfried (1981). Kalādarśana: American Studies in the Art of India. BRILL. p. 129. ISBN 978-90-04-06498-0. 978-90-04-06498-0
Paul, Pran Gopal; Paul, Debjani (1989). "Brahmanical Imagery in the Kuṣāṇa Art of Mathurā: Tradition and Innovations". East and West. 39 (1/4): 132–136, for the photograph p. 138. ISSN 0012-8376. JSTOR 29756891. /wiki/ISSN_(identifier)
Smagur, Emilia. "Vaishnavite Influences in the Kushan Coinage, Notae Numismaticae- Zapiski Numizmatyczne, X (2015)": 67. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) https://www.academia.edu/24021513
Doris Srinivasan (1997). Many Heads, Arms, and Eyes: Origin, Meaning, and Form of Multiplicity in Indian Art. BRILL Academic. pp. 211–220, 236. ISBN 90-04-10758-4. 90-04-10758-4
Gavin D. Flood (1996). An Introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge University Press. pp. 119–120. ISBN 978-0-521-43878-0. 978-0-521-43878-0
Christopher Austin (2018). Diana Dimitrova and Tatiana Oranskaia (ed.). Divinizing in South Asian Traditions. Taylor & Francis. pp. 30–35. ISBN 978-1-351-12360-0. 978-1-351-12360-0
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Curta, Florin; Holt, Andrew (2016). Great Events in Religion: An Encyclopedia of Pivotal Events in Religious History [3 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. p. 271. ISBN 978-1-61069-566-4. 978-1-61069-566-4
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Austin, Christopher R. (2019). Pradyumna: Lover, Magician, and Scion of the Avatara. Oxford University Press. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-19-005412-0. 978-0-19-005412-0
Austin, Christopher R. (2019). Pradyumna: Lover, Magician, and Scion of the Avatara. Oxford University Press. p. 22. ISBN 978-0-19-005412-0. 978-0-19-005412-0
Austin, Christopher R. (2019). Pradyumna: Lover, Magician, and Scion of the Avatara. Oxford University Press. p. 22. ISBN 978-0-19-005412-0. 978-0-19-005412-0
Singh, Upinder (2008). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century. Pearson Education India. pp. 436–438. ISBN 978-81-317-1120-0. 978-81-317-1120-0
Singh, Upinder (2008). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century. Pearson Education India. pp. 436–438. ISBN 978-81-317-1120-0. 978-81-317-1120-0
Srinivasan, Doris (1979). "Early Vaiṣṇava Imagery: Caturvyūha and Variant Forms". Archives of Asian Art. 32: 50. JSTOR 20111096. /wiki/JSTOR_(identifier)
Srinivasan, Doris (1979). "Early Vaiṣṇava Imagery: Caturvyūha and Variant Forms". Archives of Asian Art. 32: 51. ISSN 0066-6637. JSTOR 20111096. /wiki/ISSN_(identifier)
Srinivasan, Doris (1979). "Early Vaiṣṇava Imagery: Caturvyūha and Variant Forms". Archives of Asian Art. 32: 51. ISSN 0066-6637. JSTOR 20111096. /wiki/ISSN_(identifier)
Singh, Upinder (2008). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century. Pearson Education India. p. 439. ISBN 978-81-317-1677-9. 978-81-317-1677-9
"Chatur vyuha,"[usurped] article at Bhaktipedia (a Hare Krishna's site). https://web.archive.org/web/20150610221604/http://bhaktipedia.org/english/index.php?n=thesaurus.Chatur-vyuha
Indian History. Allied Publishers. 1988. p. A-222. ISBN 978-81-8424-568-4. 978-81-8424-568-4
Indian History. Allied Publishers. 1988. p. A-224. ISBN 978-81-8424-568-4. 978-81-8424-568-4
Gupta, Vinay K. "Vrishnis in Ancient Literature and Art". Indology's Pulse Arts in Context, Doris Meth Srinivasan Festschrift Volume, Eds. Corinna Wessels Mevissen and Gerd Mevissen with Assistance of Vinay Kumar Gupta: 81. https://www.academia.edu/40656540
Austin, Christopher R. (2019). Pradyumna: Lover, Magician, and Scion of the Avatara. Oxford University Press. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-19-005412-0. 978-0-19-005412-0
Indian History. Allied Publishers. 1988. p. A-224. ISBN 978-81-8424-568-4. 978-81-8424-568-4
Austin, Christopher R. (2019). Pradyumna: Lover, Magician, and Scion of the Avatara. Oxford University Press. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-19-005412-0. 978-0-19-005412-0
Srinivasan, Doris (1979). "Early Vaiṣṇava Imagery: Caturvyūha and Variant Forms". Archives of Asian Art. 32: 39–40. ISSN 0066-6637. JSTOR 20111096. /wiki/ISSN_(identifier)
"We find Dionysos to be the same as Samkarsana because just as in Greece the former is associated with wine and plough so is the latter in India" Bose, Ananta Kumar (1934). Indian Historical Quarterly Vol.10. p. 288. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.33101/page/n311
"The belief of Dionysus with its Bacchanalian features reminds us of the belief of Samkarsana." Sastri, Kallidaikurichi Aiyah Nilakanta (1952). Age of the Nandas and Mauryas. Bharatiya Itihas Parishad. p. 306. ISBN 978-0-89684-167-3. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) 978-0-89684-167-3
Puskás, Ildikó (1990). "Magasthenes and the "Indian Gods" Herakles and Dionysos". Mediterranean Studies. 2: 42. ISSN 1074-164X. JSTOR 41163978. /wiki/ISSN_(identifier)
"The belief of Dionysus with its Bacchanalian features reminds us of the belief of Samkarsana." Sastri, K. a Nilakanta (1952). Age Of The Nandas And Mauryas. p. 306. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.70174/page/n327
"...the inebriate condition of this Avatara which is fully corroborated by the presence of the wine cup in the hands of some of the extant images of Balarama, as well as the goggle eyes depicted in others. The 'Mahabharata' refers to the bacchanalian orgies of Baladeva" in Journal of the Indian society of oriental art vol.14. 1946. p. 29. https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.33181/page/n37
Charles Allen 2017, pp. 169–170. - Charles Allen (2017), "6", Coromandel: A Personal History of South India, Little Brown, ISBN 978-1-4087-0539-1
Joanna Gottfried Williams (1981). Kalādarśana: American Studies in the Art of India. BRILL Academic. pp. 129–130. ISBN 90-04-06498-2. 90-04-06498-2
Mirashi 1981, pp. 131–134. - Mirashi, Vasudev Vishnu (1981), History and Inscriptions of the Satavahanas: The Western Kshatrapas, Maharashtra State Board for Literature and Culture https://books.google.com/books?id=vwpuAAAAMAAJ
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Charles Allen 2017, pp. 169–170. - Charles Allen (2017), "6", Coromandel: A Personal History of South India, Little Brown, ISBN 978-1-4087-0539-1
Mirashi 1981, pp. 131–134. - Mirashi, Vasudev Vishnu (1981), History and Inscriptions of the Satavahanas: The Western Kshatrapas, Maharashtra State Board for Literature and Culture https://books.google.com/books?id=vwpuAAAAMAAJ
Vincent Lefèvre (2011). Portraiture in Early India: Between Transience and Eternity. BRILL Academic. pp. 33, 85–86. ISBN 978-90-04-20735-6. 978-90-04-20735-6
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D. R. Bhandarkar, Hathi-bada Brahmi Inscription at Nagari, Epigraphia Indica Vol. XXII, Archaeological Survey of India, pages 198-205 /wiki/D._R._Bhandarkar
Doris Srinivasan (1997). Many Heads, Arms, and Eyes: Origin, Meaning, and Form of Multiplicity in Indian Art. BRILL Academic. pp. 214–215 with footnotes. ISBN 90-04-10758-4. 90-04-10758-4
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Srinivasan, Doris (1997). Many Heads, Arms, and Eyes: Origin, Meaning, and Form of Multiplicity in Indian Art. BRILL. p. 215. ISBN 978-90-04-10758-8. 978-90-04-10758-8
Srinivasan, Doris (2007). On the Cusp of an Era: Art in the Pre-Kuṣāṇa World. BRILL. p. 22. ISBN 978-90-474-2049-1. 978-90-474-2049-1
Srinivasan, Doris (1997). Many Heads, Arms, and Eyes: Origin, Meaning, and Form of Multiplicity in Indian Art. BRILL. p. 215. ISBN 978-90-04-10758-8. 978-90-04-10758-8
Srinivasan, Doris (2007). On the Cusp of an Era: Art in the Pre-Kuṣāṇa World. BRILL. p. 22. ISBN 978-90-474-2049-1. 978-90-474-2049-1
Errington, Elizabeth; Trust, Ancient India and Iran; Museum, Fitzwilliam (1992). The Crossroads of Asia: transformation in image and symbol in the art of ancient Afghanistan and Pakistan. Ancient India and Iran Trust. p. 80 with image and description of the same coin type: "Indian God Balarama walking to left, holding club and plough". ISBN 978-0-9518399-1-1. 978-0-9518399-1-1
Singh, Upinder (2008). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century. Pearson Education India. p. 439. ISBN 978-81-317-1677-9. 978-81-317-1677-9
Paul, Pran Gopal; Paul, Debjani (1989). "Brahmanical Imagery in the Kuṣāṇa Art of Mathurā: Tradition and Innovations". East and West. 39 (1/4): 132–136, for the photograph p. 138. ISSN 0012-8376. JSTOR 29756891. /wiki/ISSN_(identifier)
Paul, Pran Gopal; Paul, Debjani (1989). "Brahmanical Imagery in the Kuṣāṇa Art of Mathurā: Tradition and Innovations". East and West. 39 (1/4): 132–136, for the photograph p. 138. ISSN 0012-8376. JSTOR 29756891. /wiki/ISSN_(identifier)
Bautze-Picron, Claudine (2013). "A neglected Aspect of the Iconography of Viṣṇu and other Gods and Goddesses". Journal of the Indian Society of Oriental Arts. XXVIII–XXIX: 81–92. https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00753613v2/document
Gupta, Vinay K. "Vrishnis in Ancient Literature and Art". Indology's Pulse Arts in Context, Doris Meth Srinivasan Festschrift Volume, Eds. Corinna Wessels Mevissen and Gerd Mevissen with Assistance of Vinay Kumar Gupta: 74–75. https://www.academia.edu/40656540
Austin, Christopher R. (2019). Pradyumna: Lover, Magician, and Son of the Avatara. Oxford University Press. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-19-005411-3. 978-0-19-005411-3
Gupta, Vinay K. "Vrishnis in Ancient Literature and Art". Indology's Pulse Arts in Context, Doris Meth Srinivasan Festschrift Volume, Eds. Corinna Wessels Mevissen and Gerd Mevissen with Assistance of Vinay Kumar Gupta: 74–75. https://www.academia.edu/40656540
Srinivasan, Doris (1997). Many Heads, Arms, and Eyes: Origin, Meaning, and Form of Multiplicity in Indian Art. BRILL. p. 217. ISBN 978-90-04-10758-8. 978-90-04-10758-8
Gupta, Vinay K. "Vrishnis in Ancient Literature and Art". Indology's Pulse Arts in Context, Doris Meth Srinivasan Festschrift Volume, Eds. Corinna Wessels Mevissen and Gerd Mevissen with Assistance of Vinay Kumar Gupta: 74–75. https://www.academia.edu/40656540
Gupta, Vinay K. "Vrishnis in Ancient Literature and Art". Indology's Pulse Arts in Context, Doris Meth Srinivasan Festschrift Volume, Eds. Corinna Wessels Mevissen and Gerd Mevissen with Assistance of Vinay Kumar Gupta: 74–75. https://www.academia.edu/40656540
"Samkarsana is represented by his theriomorphic form, the lion..." in Srinivasan, Doris (1997). Many Heads, Arms, and Eyes: Origin, Meaning, and Form of Multiplicity in Indian Art. BRILL. pp. 253–254. ISBN 978-90-04-10758-8. 978-90-04-10758-8
Srinivasan, Doris (1979). "Early Vaiṣṇava Imagery: Caturvyūha and Variant Forms". Archives of Asian Art. 32: 39–54. ISSN 0066-6637. JSTOR 20111096. /wiki/ISSN_(identifier)
Srinivasan, Doris (1997). Many Heads, Arms, and Eyes: Origin, Meaning, and Form of Multiplicity in Indian Art. BRILL. p. 241 Note 9. ISBN 978-90-04-10758-8. 978-90-04-10758-8
"Gentleness and strength are associated with Vasudeva, "knowledge with Samkarsana, (Narasimha) female power with Pradyumna (Varaha) and ferociousness and sovereignty with Aniruddha (Kapila)." Kamalakar, G.; Veerender, M. (1993). Vishnu in Art, Thought & Literature. Birla Archeological & Cultural Research Institute. p. 92. https://books.google.com/books?id=MMcYAAAAYAAJ
Srinivasan, Doris (1979). "Early Vaiṣṇava Imagery: Caturvyūha and Variant Forms". Archives of Asian Art. 32: 39–54. ISSN 0066-6637. JSTOR 20111096. /wiki/ISSN_(identifier)
"Gentleness and strength are associated with Vasudeva, "knowledge with Samkarsana, (Narasimha) female power with Pradyumna (Varaha) and ferociousness and sovereignty with Aniruddha (Kapila)." Kamalakar, G.; Veerender, M. (1993). Vishnu in Art, Thought & Literature. Birla Archeological & Cultural Research Institute. p. 92. https://books.google.com/books?id=MMcYAAAAYAAJ
Atherton, Cynthia Packert (1997). The Sculpture of Early Medieval Rajasthan. Brill. p. 78. ISBN 978-90-04-10789-2. 978-90-04-10789-2
A Comprehensive History of India: pt. 1-2. A.D. 300-985. Orient Longmans. 1982. p. 866. https://books.google.com/books?id=9MMKAQAAIAAJ
Parlier-Renault, Edith (2007). Temples de l'Inde méridionale: VIe-VIIIe siècles. La mise en scène des mythes. Presses Paris Sorbonne. pp. 38–42. ISBN 978-2-84050-464-1. 978-2-84050-464-1
"A shrine of Aniruddha, the fourth of the 'vyuhas', which had within its precincts a 'rsyadhvaja', i. e. a column bearing on its top the figure of a 'rsya' or a white antelope which was his characteristic 'lanchana'." in Journal of the Indian Society of Oriental Art. Indian Society of Oriental Art. 1937. p. 16. https://books.google.com/books?id=F1zrAAAAMAAJ
Gupta, Vinay K. "Vrishnis in Ancient Literature and Art". Indology's Pulse Arts in Context, Doris Meth Srinivasan Festschrift Volume, Eds. Corinna Wessels Mevissen and Gerd Mevissen with Assistance of Vinay Kumar Gupta: 80–81. https://www.academia.edu/40656540