| Gwalior inscription of Mihirakula | |
|---|---|
 Gwalior inscription of Mihirakula. Actual photograph | |
| Material | Red sandstone slab |
| Writing | Sanskrit |
| Created | 6th century |
| Period/culture | Gupta Empire era |
| Discovered | Gwalior Fort |
| Place | Gwalior Fort |
| Present location | Kolkata Museum |
The Gwalior Inscription of Mihirakula is a Sanskrit inscription recording the construction of a Surya temple from stone on the Gopa hill of Gwalior. Though now referred with the name of Mihirakula, the temple and the inscription was commissioned by Matricheta. The original temple is lost, and the inscribed red-sandstone slab was found in 1861 by Alexander Cunningham in the porch of another temple, and published in 1861. This inscribed stone from Gwalior was moved shortly after its discovery to the Kolkata museum for preservation. Several translations of it have been published thereafter. It is damaged, its script is the northern class of ancient Gupta script and the entire composition is in poetic verse.[1]
It is notable for mentioning a Sun temple in the first part of the sixth century CE, and the rule of the two Hūṇa kings Toramana and Mihirakula.[2]
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
cii3n37was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ The dates of Mihirakula are not known but he can be assigned to early sixth century; Richard Salomon, "New Inscriptional Evidence for the History of the Aulikaras of Mandasor," Indo-Iranian Journal 32 (1989): 1-39.