The Scindia dynasty, or House of Scindia, which ruled erstwhile Gwalior State in central India, played an important role in the preservation of archaeological monuments in central India as well as the preservation of Indo-Greek heritage in the region.
The outline of policy for the archaeological department established by a member of the dynasty Maharaja Madho Rao Scindia, included three objectives: “exploration, preservation and education.” The creation of public interest in ancient relics through the museum, publications, and other activities was of paramount importance.
This family is of Maratha origin from the Deccan region of India. According to George Woodcock in his book Greeks in India, “in ancient times in this region the Greeks allied themselves with the local Saka and Parthian chieftains, and shared their domination of the northern part of this region until they were expelled by…Andhra King Gautamiputra about 150 AD.”
The Scindia dynasty ruled over a large area of India and even established its de facto control over the capital city of the Turkic (Mughals), Delhi. The first Scindia capital was Ujjain, an ancient Indian city. Greek geographers make mention of it. Ptolemy (150 A.D.), for example, mentions Chashtana as Tiastenos of Ozene.
A century later, the author of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea writes of Ozene as a noted trading center. After the Scindians’ military struggle against the British East India Company ended in the latter’s favor, they were confined to rule a princely state known as Gwalior State.
Maharaja Madho Rao Scindia contributed significantly to the development of the study of Greek presence in South Asia. He helped discover inscriptions in the Pali language, written in Brahmi characters on Heliodoros’ pillar. He also preserved the pillar and ensured that his archaeological department document its features and location in detail.
His son Maharaja Jiwajirao M. Scindia wrote about the city of Besnagar, where it was found. According to the Maharaja, or ruler, “today mounds and other vestiges of ancient civilization mark the site of this once-famous city, and it is here that we get a glimpse of the intercourse that went on between India and the early Greek invaders of Asia.”
Scindias’ Archaeological Department
Maharaja Madho Rao Scindia instituted a department for the exploration and preservation of precious relics of ancient art, architecture, and culture in his state, known as Gwalior State, in 1913.
M. B. Garde was placed in charge of the new department in 1913 and became the director of archaeology in the dominion of Scindia. He had completed his archaeological training under Sir John Marshall, one of the greatest director generals of archaeology ever in India. More than 1,200 individual ancient monuments have been listed in Maharaja Jiwajirao M. Scindia’s State.
The earliest Hindu monument in the state was a Garuda pillar at Besnagar, which bears an interesting Vaishnava inscription and was set up by Heliodoros, a Greek who called himself a Bhagavata and thus appears to have embraced Hinduism.
In the year 1914, Garde wrote in detail in the official government newspaper of Scindia Jayaji Pratap, about the results of excavations at Besnagar, where Heliodorus’ pillar was identified.
As Garde was the one in charge of the preservation of the pillar, his account is that which is most highly reliable. Therefore, readers will find extracts from the excavation report quoted several times in the paper, so as to comprehend the ground situation and learn from the most authentic account of the excavations conducted at Besnagar.
Pillar of Heliodoros—Indo-Greek Heritage Preservation in India
According to the book Gwalior Today, by Michael H. Brown, “The Heliodorus Pillar stands on an eminence on the northern bank of the river Bes—it was once in a suburb of Vidisha. Popularly known as Khamb Baba, it bears an inscription in Pali stating that it was set up as a Garuda pillar in [honor] of the god Vasudeva (Vishnu) by the Greek Heliodoros, who had come to the court of King Bhagabhadra of Vidisa as an ambassador from the Greek King Antialcidas of Takshasila (Taxila) in the Punjab (circa 150 B.C.). Heliodoros styled himself a Bhagavata, having embraced Hinduism.”
We know from several historical sources that numerous Greeks in India converted to Hinduism and Buddhism but also retained elements of Hellenic faith, leading to the emergence of a syncretistic belief system merging Indian and Hellenic elements.
Greeks are mentioned in the Ramayana. They were in India before the Valmiki Ramayana was composed, as per historian H. D. Sankalia in his book Ramayana in Historical Perspective. He mentions that it is only after the second Greek invasion, when the distant Pataliputra, modern Patna in Eastern India, as well as Madhyamika near Chitor, a hill fort now a UNESCO world heritage site in Rajasthan, were besieged by the Greeks that the Indians became especially familiar with the Greeks or Indo-Greeks.
The importance of the pillar of Heliodoros is that it provides us with strong evidence of the conversion of Greeks to Indian faiths. According to this, they also belonged to the syncretistic Gandhara school of art. Thanks to the study conducted by Garde, we know of the excavations conducted in Besnagar, where the pillar was identified. There are remains of several ancient monuments in the town of Bhilsa in Vidisha district (it was the ancient capital of Eastern Malwa) in the modern state of Madhya Pradesh.
In the works of many ancient Sanskrit writers, such as the famous poets Kalidasa, Bana, and the celebrated Indian astronomer Varahamihira, references to this city are found. Heliodoros’ pillar is considered to be the most important archaeological discovery in this area.
It is a monolithic pillar locally known as the Khamb Baba. Specifically, it stands on a prominent ridge on the north bank of the Bes river, a little to the north-east of the proper city of Besnagar, of which the former locality seems to have been a suburb. Garde described the pillar in the following way:
“The pillar is octagonal at the base and is successively developed into sixteen and thirty-two sides in the middle and finally into a round column near the top. A band of half-sunflowers divides the octagonal from the sixteen-sided portion, and the top of the sixteen sides is decorated with an undulating garland of flowers passing around the necks of birds pecking at fruits. The column has a fluted bell-shaped capital of the Parsipolitan (old Persian) type, which carries a square abacus, now partially broken, surrounded by an ornament consisting of alternate geese and honeysuckles, so common in Greek art.
Between the bell capital and the abacus are the usual cable, bead, and reed ornaments. A tenon issues up from the abacus, showing that originally there must have been still another member—probably an image of Garuda—who fitted into the tenon by a mortice and crowned the whole pillar. The crowing image has now disappeared. A small platform of modern construction has been built around the base of the pillar.”
Garuda is the vehicle of Lord Vishnu, the Hindu deity of preservation, according to Hindu scriptures.
Though Sir Alexander Cunningham noticed the pillar as early as 1877, its importance remained unknown until its inspection in 1909 by Dr. J. H. Marshall, the director-general of archaeology in India, and Mr. Lake, the former superintending engineer of the state of Scindia. At that time, the valuable inscription on it was discovered.
Pali and Brahmi characters were popular in India long before and throughout the early centuries AD and are used in the composition of the inscription. There is a unique historical importance to the epigraph. It is the only stone record yet found that mentions the Indo-Greek Kings of the Punjab, although numismatic evidence of Indo-Greek kings of the Punjab has been found in plenty.
When it comes to the religious history of ancient India, it affords inscriptional evidence to prove that the cult of Vasudeva (of the Bhagavata sect) had been well established as early as the second century BC, the approximate date of the inscription.
As formerly mentioned, the inscription records that the pillar was set up as a Garud-dhvajas in honor of Lord Vasudeva by Heliodoros, a Bhagavata, who came from Taxila in the Punjab as an ambassador from the Greek King Antialcidas to the court of Bhagabhadra, the king of Central India. Garud-dhwajas were generally set up in front of the temples of Vishnu, and the inscription of the Khamb Baba distinctly states that the pillar was erected in honor of the Lord Vasudeva.
Conclusion
The inscription on the pillar of Heliodoros at Besnagar continues to be one of the most important sources for the study of Hellenic presence in South Asia. Inscriptions on this pillar were discovered and preserved thanks to the efforts of the late Maharaja Madho Rao Scindia’s archaeological department. Rao is thus a highly respected figure for students of Indo-Greek and Graeco-Bactrian history. Yearly, archaeological reports of Gwalior State, ruled by Scindia, are a gold mine of archaeological information.
The study on Greek presence in South Asia is ongoing and provides opportunity for inter-cultural dialogue in an increasingly polarized world. This article is a humble effort to catalyze the dialogue and bridge the gap between East and West.
