Saá¹Âkará¹£aá¹Âa (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 Saá¹Âkará¹£aá¹Âa with that of VÃÂsudeva is historically one of the earliest forms of personal deity worship in India, attested from around the 4th century BCE.
The cult of VÃÂsudeva and Saá¹Âkará¹£aá¹Âa 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 VÃÂsudeva as well as Saá¹Âkará¹£aá¹Âa became understood as some of these forms, and some of the most popular ones. This process lasted from the 4th century BCE when VÃÂsudeva and Saá¹Âkará¹£aá¹Âa were independent deities, to the 4th century CE, when Vishnu became much more prominent as the central deity of an integrated Vaishnavite cult, with VÃÂsudeva and Saá¹Âkará¹£aá¹Âa now only some of his manifestations.
In epic and Puranic lore Saá¹Âkará¹£aá¹Âa was also known by the names of Rama, Baladeva, Balarama, Rauhineya or Halayudha, and is presented as the elder brother of VÃÂsudeva.
Initially, Saá¹Âkará¹£aá¹Âa seems to hold precedence over his younger brother VÃÂsudeva, as he appears on the obverse on the coinage of king Agathocles of Bactria (-180 BCE), and usually first in the naming order as in the Ghosundi inscription. Later this order was reversed, and VÃÂsudeva became the most important deity of the two.
The belief of VÃÂsudeva and Saá¹Âkará¹£aá¹Âa 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 Saá¹Âkará¹£aá¹Âa may have evolved into a Vaishnavite deity through a step-by-step process: 1) deification of the Vrishni heroes, of whom VÃÂsudeva and Saá¹Âkará¹£aá¹Âa 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 Saá¹Âkará¹£aá¹Âa is confirmed by his appearance on the coinage of Agathocles of Bactria (190-180 BCE). Later, the association of Saá¹Âkará¹£aá¹Âa 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-vyà «ha), consisting in the Vrishni heroes including VÃÂsudeva, Saá¹Âkará¹£aá¹Âa and minus Samba, starts to become visible in the art of Mathura at the end of the Kushan period.
The Harivamsa describes intricate relationships between Krishna Vasudeva, Saá¹Âkará¹£aá¹Âa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha that would later form a Vaishnava concept of primary quadrupled expansion, or chatur vyuha.
The name of Samkarsana first appears in epigraphy in the Nanaghat cave inscriptions and the Hathibada Ghosundi Inscriptions, both dated to the 1st century BCE. In these inscriptions, Samkarsana appears before Vasudeva, suggesting seniority and precedence.
Various sculptures and pillar capitals were found near the Heliodorus pillar in Besnagar, and it is thought they were dedicated to VÃÂsudeva's kinsmen, otherwise known as the Vrishni heroes and objects of the Bhagavata cult. These are a tala (fan-palm capital), a makara(crocodile) capital, a banyan-tree capital, and a possible statue of the goddess Lakshmi, also associated with the Bhagavat cult. Just as Garuda is associated with Vasudeva, the fan-palm capital is generally associated with Samkarsana, and the makara is associated with Pradyumna. The banyan-tree capital with ashtanidhis is associated with Lakshmi.
The presence of these pillar capitals, found near the Heliodorus pillar, suggests that the Bhagavata belief, although centered around the figures of VÃÂsudeva and Samkarsana, may also have involved the worship of other Vrishni deities.
In his theriomorphic form, Saá¹Âkará¹£aá¹Âa is associated to the lion.
Saá¹Âkará¹£aá¹Âa has been compared to the Greek god Dionysos, son of Zeus, as both are associated with the plough and with wine, as well as a liking for wrestling and gourmet food. Arrian in his Indika, quoting Megasthenes, writes of Dyonisos in India:
The Naneghat inscription, dated to the 1st century BCE, mentions both Samkarshana and VÃÂsudeva, 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.
VÃÂsudeva and Saá¹Âkará¹£aá¹Âa are also mentioned in the 1st century BCE Hathibada Ghosundi Inscriptions in association with Narayana:
At Chilas II archeological site dated to the first half of 1st-century CE in northwest Pakistan, near the Afghanistan border, are engraved two males along with many Buddhist images nearby. The larger of the two males holds a plough and club in his two hands. The artwork also has an inscription with it in Kharosthi script, which has been deciphered by scholars as Rama-Krsna, and interpreted as an ancient depiction of the two brothers Saá¹Âkará¹£aá¹Âa and Krishna.
Samkarshana, the Vrishni elder and the leading divinity until the rise to precedence of VÃÂsudeva, 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.
Some sculptures during this period suggest that the concept of the avatars was starting to emerge, as images of "Chatur-vyuha" (the four emanations of Narayana) are appearing. The famous "Caturvyà «ha" statue in Mathura Museum is an attempt to show in one composition VÃÂsudeva together with the other members of the Vrishni clan of the Pancharatra system: Saá¹Âkará¹£aá¹Âa, Pradyumna and Aniruddha, with Samba missing, VÃÂsudeva being the central deity from whom the others emanate. The back of the relief is carved with the branches of a Kadamba tree, symbolically showing the relationship being the different deities. The depiction of Vishnu was stylistically derived from the type of the ornate Bodhisattvas, with rich jewelry and ornate headdress.
Saá¹Âkará¹£aá¹Âa appears prominently in a relief from Kondamotu, Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh, dating to the 4th century CE, which shows the Vrishni heroes standing in genealogical order around Narasimha. Saá¹Âkará¹£aá¹Âa stands to the left in the place of seniority, holding a mace and a ploughshare topped by the depiction of a lion, followed by VÃÂsudeva, with a hand in abhaya mudra and the other hand on the hip holding a conch shell. VÃÂsudeva also has a crown, which distinguishes him from the others. Then follow Pradyumna, holding a bow and an arrow, Samba, holding a wine goblet, and Aniruddha, holding a sword and a shield. The fact that they stand around Narasimha suggests a fusion of the Satvata cult with the Vrishni cult.
In Vaishnavism, Saá¹Âkará¹£aá¹Âa is associated with the lion, which is his theriomorphic aspect. He can be identified as Narasimha. Saá¹Âkará¹£aá¹Âa appears as a lion in some of the Caturvyà «ha statues (the Bhita statue), where he is an assistant to VÃÂsudeva, and in the Vaikuntha Chaturmurti when his lion's head protrudes from the side of Vishnu's head.
Saá¹Âkará¹£aá¹Âa is also associated with the quality of knowledge.