u/Gandalfthebran

The Heliodorus pillar is a stone column that was erected around 113 BCE in central India[1] in Besnagar (Vidisha), Madhya Pradesh. The pillar is commonly named after Heliodorus (Greek: Ηλιόδωρος) (identified by him as a Garuda-standard), who was an ambassador of the Indo-Greek king Antialcidas from Taxila, and was sent to the Indian ruler Bhagabhadra.[2] A dedication written in Brahmi script was inscribed on the pillar, venerating Vāsudeva (Krishna), the Deva deva the "God of Gods" and the Supreme Deity.[3][4][5][6] The pillar also glorifies the Indian ruler as "Bhagabhadra the savior". The pillar is a stambha which symbolizes joining earth, space and heaven, and is thought to connote the "cosmic axis" and express the cosmic totality of the Deity.[3]The pillar has been called one of the earliest surviving records of a foreign convert into Vaishnavism.[15][6] An alternative interpretation is that making dedications to foreign gods was only a logical practice for the Greeks, intended to appropriate their local power and cannot be regarded as a "conversion" to Hinduism.[16]

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