The depiction of Krishna and Balarama is found on the coins of which Indo-Greek ruler?

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Correct — C, Agathokleis (Agathocles), the Greek king of Bactria/north-west India of the early second century BCE. Silver coins of his, found at Ai-Khanoum in northern Afghanistan, show on one face a deity holding a chakra (discus) and a conch — Vasudeva-Krishna — and on the other a deity with a plough and a club or mace — Samkarshana-Balarama. These are the earliest datable images of the two brothers anywhere, and they make Agathocles the most 'Indianising' of the Indo-Greek kings: he is also the ruler who issued coins with Brahmi legends, at a time when Greek and Kharoshthi were the usual scripts on such issues.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) Menander (Milinda) is the most famous Indo-Greek king, but his associations are Buddhist — the Milindapanho dialogue with the monk Nagasena — and his coins carry Athena Alkidemos and, on some issues, a wheel; not Krishna and Balarama.  (b) Demetrius of Bactria is remembered for pushing Greek rule into north-west India and for the elephant-scalp headdress on his coin portraits; his issues do not carry the two Vrishni deities.  (d) Eucratides' coins famously show the Dioscuri — the Greek twin horsemen Castor and Pollux — a pair of divine brothers that is easy to mistake for Krishna and Balarama, but they are Greek deities, not Indian ones.

Concept: Indo-Greek coins are among the most useful documents of post-Mauryan history: they carry the king's portrait and name, so they yield a king-list no text preserves, and their bilingual legends (Greek with Kharoshthi, and on some Agathocles issues Brahmi) helped scholars read early Indian scripts. They also record religious cross-over in both directions — Agathocles striking Vasudeva-Krishna and Samkarshana-Balarama, Menander associated with Buddhism, and Heliodorus, envoy of the Indo-Greek king Antialkidas, calling himself a Bhagavata on the Garuda pillar he raised at Besnagar near Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh.

State PCS 2026 Q55 — History PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2026 Q55 — History PYQ with Answer