Gwalior inscription of Mihirakula
Coordinates: 26°13′17″N 78°10′41″E / 26.221521°N 78.178024°E
The Gwalior Inscription of Mihirakula is an epigraphic record documenting the construction of a temple dedicated to Sūrya by an individual named Mātṛcheṭa in the 15th year of the Hūṇa king Mihirakula. It can be assigned to the first part of the sixth century CE.
Gwalior is located in northern Madhya Pradesh, India. The shrine probably stood on the edge of the tank known as Surāj Kuṇḍ on Gwalior Fort. The inscription is reported to be in the Indian Museum.
The inscription was published by John Faithfull Fleet in 1888. It was subsequently noted by Bhandarkar, Garde, Dvivedī and Willis in their respective epigraphic lists. An edition was published by D. C. Sircar in his Select Inscriptions.
The inscription is written in Sanskrit and opens with a poetic account of the Sun god. The purport is to record that a temple was built for the god on the hill (presumably Gwalior fort) in the month of Kārttika in the 15th year of Mihirakula. Mātṛcheṭa, the son of Mātṛdāsa, was the patron. The inscription was composed by Keśava and [Dev?*]āditya.
[Ôm!] May he (the Sun) protect you, who is victorious,-dispelling the darkness of the banks of clouds with the masses of the multitude of his rays that light up the sky; (and) decorating the top of the side of the mountain of dawn with (his) horses, which have the tossing ends of (their) manes deshevelled through the fatigue (induced) by (their) startled gait;-(and) who,-having (his) chariot-wheels (?) swallowed (?)…………. The mountain of dawn; dispelling distress; (being) the light of the house which is the world; (and) effecting the destruction of night,-creates the fresh beauty of the waterlilies by (his) rays which are of the colour of molten gold!
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