of Vasudeva (Vasudeva prasadauttama) by a Gautamiputra Bhagavata, suggesting that there may have been two Garuda pillars, just as there were two fan-palm pillars, in front the Vāsudeva Temple. Association with Garuda The sun bird Garuda is the traditional vehicle of Vāsudeva. In the Mahabharata (probably compiled between the 3rd century BCE and the 3rd century CE), Garuda appears as the vehicle of Vishnu. However, the understanding of Vāsudeva as an emanation of Vishnu probably appeared much later, as there is nothing to suggest it in the early evidence: the cult of Vāsudeva between the 4th century BCE and the 2nd century BCE was a warrior-hero cult, after which the progressive amalgamation with Vishnu and Narayana would follow, developing during the Kushan period and culminating during the Gupta period. Slightly later, the Nagari inscription also shows the association of the Brahmanical deity Narayana with the heroe-cult of Bhagavatism. Vishnu would much later become prominent in this construct, so that by the middle of the 5th century CE, during the Gupta period, the term Vaishnava would replace the term Bhagavata to describe the followers of this cult, and Vishnu would now be more popular than Vāsudeva. Temple In 1910, an archaeological team led by H H Lake revisited the Heliodorus pillar site and nearby mounds. They found the Brahmi inscriptions on the pillar, and noticed several mistakes in the early Cunningham report. They also found many other broken wall pieces, pillar sections and broken statues in different mounds along the river, within a kilometer from the pillar. Lake speculated these to be variously related to Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism. Near the Heliodorus pillar site, his team discovered Sapta-Matrikas (seven mothers of the Shaktism tradition of Hinduism), dating to the 5th-6th century CE. These discoveries suggest that Besnagar was probably an important ancient temples and pilgrimage site. The 1963–65 excavations revealed that the Heliodorus pillar was a part of an ancient temple site. The archaeologists found an ancient elliptical foundation, extensive floor and plinth produced from burnt bricks. Further, the foundations for all the major components of a Hindu temple – garbhagriha (sanctum), pradakshinapatha (circumambulation passage), antarala (antechamber next to sanctum) and mandapa (gathering hall) – were found. These sections had a thick support base for their walls. These core temple remains cover an area of 30 x 30 m with 2.40 m. The sections had post-holes, which likely contained the wooden