| Writing: | Sanskrit |
| Created: | ~ 1st Century CE |
| Place: | Mathura, Uttar Pradesh |
| Location: | Indian Museum, Kolkata |
| Id: | NS 6482 |
The Mountain Temple inscription was found near Mathura, India. It is on a broken slab, and now housed at the Indian Museum, Kolkata.[1] [2]
The Mountain Temple inscription makes an early mention of Hindu and Jain temple architecture, where its shape is described to be like a mountain and accompanied with an assembly hall (sabha). The inscription's wording and arrangement, state Luders and Janert, closely resembles the Mora Well inscription, now in Mathura museum. Both describe a donation of a stone temple, halls and slabs; however, the Mora Well inscription is more detailed and mentions pratima. The Rajula in line 3 of the Mountain Temple inscription is likely the Northern Satraps Great Satrap Rajuvula, found in Mathura lion capital.[2]
The Mountain Temple inscription lacks a date. The similar Mora Well Inscription is dated to the early decades of the 1st-century CE and is related to early Vaishnavism: the Mora Well inscription mentions stone shrines dedicated to five Vrishni heroes.[3]
The discovered inscription is incomplete, in not quite correct Sanskrit.[2] It reads:[1]
1. . . . uvulasya putrasya mahaksatrapasya so ... 2. . . . ti parvato prasade(or do) sabha silapata ... 3. . . . taviryo rane rajulas ca pi[ta] ... 4. . . . sasyedam arca ...
Sonya Quintanilla translates it as,[1]