Photo: Ms Sarah Welch · Public domain
Inscription · Early 1st century CE

Mora well inscription

Found
On a slab from a well at Mora village, about 11 km west of Mathura; reported in the 19th century
Kept at
Known from the slab and its published readings by Lüders and later scholars

A Sanskrit record in Brahmi of a stone temple set up for the images of the five Vrishni heroes, in the time of the son of the Mahakshatrapa Rajuvula of Mathura.

What it says

A lady named Tosha set up ‘the images of the holy five heroes of the Vrishnis’ (bhagavatam vrishninam panchaviranam pratimah) in a stone shrine. The five are understood to be Sankarshana, Vasudeva, Pradyumna, Samba and Aniruddha, the heroes worshipped by the Bhagavatas.

What it proves

It is among the earliest records of a stone temple and of image worship of Shri Krishna Vasudeva and his kin, in Mathura itself.

Evidence for