According to Dandekar, what is understood today as Vaishnavism did not originate in Vedism at all, but emerged from the merger of several popular theistic traditions which developed after the decline of Vedism at the end of the Vedic period, closely before the second urbanisation of northern India, in the 7th to 4th century BCE. It initially formed around Vāsudeva, a deified leader of the Vrishnis, and one of the Vrishni heroes. Later, Vāsudeva was amalgamated with Krishna the deified tribal hero and religious leader of the Yadavas, to form the merged deity Bhagavan Vāsudeva-Krishna, due to the close relation between the tribes of the Vrishnis and the Yadavas. This was followed by a merger with the cult of Gopala-Krishna of the cowherd community of the Abhıras in the 4th century CE. The character of Gopala Krishna is often considered to be non-Vedic. According to Dandekar, such mergers consolidated the position of Krishnaism between the heterodox sramana movement and the orthodox Vedic religion. The Greater Krsnaism, states Dandekar, then adopted the Rigvedic Vishnu as Supreme deity to increase its appeal towards orthodox elements.