Saṃkarṣaṇa

Saṃkarṣaṇa (IAST , "The Plougher") later known as Balarama, was a son of Vasudeva Anakadundubhi, king of the Vrishnis in the region of Mathura. He was a leading member of the Vrishni heroes, and may well have been an ancient historical ruler in the region of Mathura. The cult of Saṃkarṣaṇa with that of Vāsudeva is historically one of the earliest forms of personal deity worship in India, attested from around the 4th century BCE. The cult of Vāsudeva and Saṃkarṣaṇa was one of the major independent cults, together with the cults of Narayana, Shri and Lakshmi, which later coalesced to form Vishnuism. According to the Vaishnavite doctrine of the avatars, Vishnu takes various forms to rescue the world, and Vāsudeva as well as Saṃkarṣaṇa became understood as some of these forms, and some of the most popular ones. This process lasted from the 4th century BCE when Vāsudeva and Saṃkarṣaṇa were independent deities, to the 4th century CE, when Vishnu became much more prominent as the central deity of an integrated Vaishnavite cult, with Vāsudeva and Saṃkarṣaṇa now only some of his manifestations. In epic and Puranic lore Saṃkarṣaṇa was also known by the names of Rama, Baladeva, Balarama, Rauhineya or Halayudha, and is presented as the elder brother of Vāsudeva. Initially, Saṃkarṣaṇa seems to hold precedence over his younger brother Vāsudeva, as he appears on the obverse on the coinage of king Agathocles of Bactria (190-180 BCE), and usually first in the naming order as in the Ghosundi inscription. Later this order was reversed, and Vāsudeva became the most important deity of the two. The cult 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.