- By Laxminarayan Tiwari
2025.08.29 (Vrindavan Today News): Among the earliest archaeological testimonies of the Bhāgavata faith lies a striking motif—the Siṁhamukha Hala, or the lion-headed plough of Baladeva (also known as Balarāma or Saṅkarṣaṇa). This emblem, both artistic and scriptural, speaks not only of Baladeva’s divine attributes but also of the cultural expanse of the Vṛṣṇi lineage. Today, some of its rarest relics survive in India, while others, regrettably, left the country during colonial times.
The Oldest Known Images of Baladeva
The earliest known image of Saṅkarṣaṇa Baladeva was discovered in Mathura. Archaeological evidence reveals that Baladeva’s ancient sculptural representations first appear in the Śuṅga and Kuṣāṇa periods. Around 18 images from this era have been found across India, yet remarkably, 15 of them originate solely from the Braj region—now preserved in the Government Museum, Mathura. This overwhelming concentration underscores how deeply the Bhāgavata faith had permeated the cultural landscape of Braj in antiquity.
These images were products of the Mathura school of art. A common feature distinguishes them: the depiction of Baladeva’s weapon, the plough (hala), adorned with a lion’s head (siṁhamukha). This is not merely an artistic flourish but a scriptural truth. The Harivaṁśa—a supplementary section of the Mahābhārata—makes direct mention of Baladeva’s lion-headed plough:
“O Lord! Today, on whom will Baladeva, adorned with a garland of forest flowers, hurl his lion-headed plough? Whose body will be shattered upon the earth by this blow?”
Thus, the lion-headed plough was both a religious and artistic marker of Baladeva’s divine power.
Disappearance in Later Eras
While prominent in the Śuṅga and Kuṣāṇa periods, the siṁhamukha hala motif gradually faded away by the Gupta era. Interestingly, it was not confined to sculptures alone. In the Kuṣāṇa period, artisans of Mathura also created siṁhamukha standards (banners), one of which survives in the form of a rare plough-standard fragment carved in red sandstone. This extraordinary piece of Mathura art is believed to have been unearthed during the British colonial period near Mathura. Tragically, it was carried abroad and now remains outside India.
Coins, Seals, and the Vṛṣṇi Republic
Beyond statuary, the lion-headed plough appears on Vṛṣṇi coins and seals. Ancient texts recount that after the fall of Dvārakā and the destruction of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s clan, the surviving Vṛṣṇis were resettled by Arjuna in the region known as Bahudhānyaka—near present-day Haryana and Punjab. This community did not vanish; instead, it continued to thrive as a political entity, known as the Vṛṣṇi Gaṇa (the Vṛṣṇi Republic), for several centuries before the start of the Vikrama era.
Archaeological evidence confirms their presence. A rare silver coin of the Vṛṣṇi Republic, preserved by the eminent archaeologist Alexander Cunningham, now rests in the British Museum, London. This coin, along with terracotta seals from Sunet (Ludhiana, Punjab) and Jhajjar (Haryana), depicts the siṁhamukha hala.
One side of the silver coin portrays a pillar rising from floodwaters, its summit crowned with a lion’s head and an elephant-tusk-shaped plough, topped further with a triratna (three-jewel) motif. Surrounding it is a Brāhmī inscription reading: “Vṛṣṇirājña Gaṇasya Tratarasya” (issued by the ruling Vṛṣṇi Republic of Trataras). The reverse bears a large wheel (cakra), along with the same inscription in Kharoṣṭhī script.
The terracotta seals echo this symbology. They display four key emblems: the lion-headed plough, the pestle (musala), the mace (gadā), and the discus (cakra). The mace and discus are well-established attributes of Vāsudeva Kṛṣṇa, while the pestle and plough belong to Baladeva. Strikingly, one seal even depicts the plough with both a lion’s head and an elephant-tusk form—an artistic flourish corroborated by a first-century CE Baladeva image from Devgarh (Gaya), now preserved in the Patna Museum.
The Shared Symbolism of Kṛṣṇa and Baladeva
Thus, on the Vṛṣṇi Republic coin, the lion-headed plough symbolises Baladeva, while the discus signifies Vāsudeva Kṛṣṇa—together affirming their dual sovereignty and divine guardianship. These artefacts reveal how scriptural traditions, artistic creativity, and political identity intertwined in ancient India.
The journey of the lion-headed plough—from Mathura sculptures and Harivaṁśa verses to terracotta seals, silver coins, and even to museums abroad—illustrates the remarkable antiquity and spread of Baladeva’s worship. While some of these invaluable relics now lie in foreign collections, their enduring testimony highlights the once-flourishing Vṛṣṇi legacy in Braj, Punjab, and Haryana.
As devotees celebrate Baladeva Ṣaṣṭhī today, these ancient symbols remind us of a time when art, scripture, and polity together carved the memory of Baladeva into the very stone and metal of India’s history.
