Heliodorus Pillar

Heliodorus Pillar, locally called Khamba Baba, stands on the outskirts of Vidisha about 13 km from Sanchi. Erected around 113 BC by Heliodorus, a Greek ambassador from Taxila sent to the court of the Shunga king Bhagabhadra, the column is one of the earliest records of Vaishnavism and of a foreigner adopting the Bhagavata faith. Its inscriptions name Heliodorus as a devotee of Vasudeva and record his offering of the pillar, topped by a Garuda figure, as an act of devotion. The pillar is a remarkable document of Indo-Greek cultural encounter and the early spread of Vishnu worship.