Venerated Stones and Eagle Banners

This study contributes to the spatial and material contextualization of early Narayana religion by revisiting important archaeological sites and epigraphic sources from the first and second centuries bce. It explores some of the ways in which the literary formulations of Vaisnava divinities and theologies were materialized and venerated by those individuals who identified themselves as devotees of Bhagavat (Bhagavatas)—a title used in epigraphic sources of this period to refer to deities such as Vasudeva, Narayana and Samkarsana. While anthropomorphic icons are commonly associated with devotional practices relating to these deities, material representations of divinity could also take other forms—notably monolithic columns styled as emblematic banners (dhvaja or ketu). By analysing epigraphic and material evidence from Besnagar in Madhya Pradesh and Nagari in Rajasthan, two critical sites for the history of early Narayana religion, I hypothesize that monumental dhvajas were integral to devotional life at these temple complexes.