Bhagabhadra

Heliodorus inscription He is best known from an inscription at the site of Vidisha in central India, the Heliodorus pillar, in which contacts with an embassy from the Indo-Greek King Antialcidas of Taxila is recorded, and where he is named Kasiputra Bhagabhadra, the Saviour, son of the princess from Benares":

The Indo-Greek king Antialcidas was the one who sent an embassy to Bhagabhadra.

Translation:

(Archaeological Survey of India, Annual Report (1908-1909))

Some of the expansion work at the Great Stupa at Sanchi may have been sponsored by Bhagabhadra. This inscription is important in that it tends to validate that the Shungas ruled in the area of Vidisa around 100 BCE. This is also corroborated by some artistic realization on the nearby Sanchi stupa thought to belong to the period of the Shungas. Altogether, three Shunga pillars have also been found in the area .The Garuda pillar erected by Heliodorous and the inscription written on this pillar is regarded as the earliest material evidence of Bhagavatism in India.