[9][11] The Mora Well Inscription makes an early mention of pratima (murti, images), stone shrine (temple) and calls the five Vrishnis as bhagavatam.

[9][12][13] The inscription may also signify the growth of Bhagavatism in 1st millennium BCE to Vaishnavism by the early centuries of the common era, and a process by which heroes and heroic ideas attract devotion.

It could be cross-sectarian – Jainism and Hinduism, or equally possibly reflect early Bhagavata movement, states Quintanilla.

They – including Vasudeva and Krishna – may have been ancient kings in the Mathura area, who became deified because of their heroic accomplishments.

They "personified certain qualities of Vishnu and thus in effect [were deified as] his avatars", states Rosenfield, and this may be "an extremely early form of Vaishnavism now called Pancaratra system" also found in Besnagar, Nanaghat and Ghasundi.

[1] It reads:[11][10] 1. mahakṣatrapasa rāṁjūvulasa putrasa svāmi ... 2. bhagavatāṁ vr̥ṣṇīnā[ṁ] paṁcavīrāṇāṁ pratimā[ḥ] śailadevagr̥[he] ... 3. ya[s] toṣāyāḥ śailaṁ śrimadgr̥ham atulam udadha samadhāra ... 4. ārcādeśāṁ śailām paṁca jvalata iva paramavapuṣā ... – Mora Well Inscription, 1st century CE Sonya Quintanilla translates it as,[11] .