Mora Well Inscription
AncientSanskrit inscription Mathura GMM Q.1
Writing	Sanskrit[1]
Created	circa 15 CE
Discovered	27°30′54″N77°35′15″E / 27.515040°N 77.587409°E /27.515040; 77.587409
Place	Mathura,Uttar Pradesh
Present location	Government Museum, Mathura (27°29′43″N77°40′46″E / 27.495382°N 77.679540°E /27.495382; 77.679540)
Identification	GMM Q.1
Location
Mora (Mathura) Mora (Mathura) (India) 8km 5miles Mora     Location of Mora, near Mathura

Mora artefacts

The Mora inscription is associated with three statue remains and a decorated doorjamb, all thought to be related to the temple built for the Vrishni heroes.^[2] Left: torso said to be probably a figure of one of the fiveVrishni heroes, Mora, circa 15 CE,Art of Mathura,Mathura Museum.^[3][4][5][6] Right: Mora carved doorjamb, also circa 15 CE, found together with the Mora Well Inscription.^[7][8]

TheMora Well inscription is an ancientSanskrit inscription found in the village of Mora about 7 miles (11 km) fromMathura,India.^[9][10] It is notable for its early mention ofpratima (images), stone temple, and thePancaviras.^[9][11]

The Mora Well Inscription makes an early mention of pratima (murti, images), stone shrine (temple) and calls thefive Vrishnis asbhagavatam.^[9][11][12] It is dated to the early decades of 1st century CE during the reign ofSodasa, probably circa 15 CE.^[9]

The Mora Well inscription does not use specifically sectarian language, and various interpretations have been given.^[13]

The HinduPuranas, such as the medievalVayu Purana in section 97.1-2, name Samkarsana, Vasudeva, Pradyumna, Samba and Aniruddha as "heroes of the dynasty of the Vrishni".^[9][12][13] The inscription may also signify the growth of Bhagavatism in 1st millennium BCE to Vaishnavism by the early centuries of the common era, and a process by which heroes and heroic ideas attract devotion.^[9] There is no mention of these heroes in ancient Brahmanical literature,^[13] but some scholars, such as Chandra, state that the five Vrishnis mentioned in the inscription is a reference to thePandavas of theMahabharata.^[13]

According to Sonya Quintanilla, the Mora inscription is not sectarian and may not necessarily relate to the roots ofVaishnavism. It could be cross-sectarian – Jainism and Hinduism, or equally possibly reflect early Bhagavata movement, states Quintanilla.^[13] According to Rosenfield, the Mora well inscription refers to the fiveVrishni heroes, but their exact identity is unclear. They – including Vasudeva and Krishna – may have been ancient kings in the Mathura area, who became deified because of their heroic accomplishments. They "personified certain qualities ofVishnu and thus in effect [were deified as] his avatars", states Rosenfield, and this may be "an extremely early form of Vaishnavism now called Pancaratra system" also found in Besnagar, Nanaghat and Ghasundi.^[14] Another explanation is that of Luders, who relying on Jain texts dated between 9th and 12th-century CE, states that the Vrishnis may have been the five Jain heroes led byAkrūra.^[13] The cult of the Vrishnis may have been cross-sectarian, much like the cult of the Yakshas.^[13][14]

The inscription mentions the name of theGreat SatrapRajuvula,^[15] and was apparently made by his son,^[16] the Great Satrap ofMathuraSodasa.^[17]

The discovery of the Mora Well Inscription in the 19th-century led archaeologists to excavate the Mora Mound in 1911-12, near the Mora well.^[18] They found large inscribed bricks of a round brick building with the name of a female, probably the daughter of king Brihasvatimitra from Kausambi of late 2nd century BCE. In the mound were also found two male torsos, as well as a lower half of a female torso with inscribed names Kanishka and Tosha, confirming the possible link between the inscription stone and the mound.^[18]

The discovered inscription is incomplete.^[10] The opening ishybrid Sanskrit, while the remaining three lines are standard Sanskrit.^[1] It reads:^[11][10]

1. mahakṣatrapasa rāṁjūvulasa putrasa svāmi ...
2. bhagavatāṁ vr̥ṣṇīnā[ṁ] paṁcavīrāṇāṁ pratimā[ḥ] śailadevagr̥[he] ...
3. ya[s] toṣāyāḥ śailaṁ śrimadgr̥ham atulam udadha samadhāra ...
4. ārcādeśāṁ śailām paṁca jvalata iva paramavapuṣā ...

– Mora Well Inscription, 1st century CE

Sonya Quintanilla translates it as,^[11]

. . . of the son ofmahakṣatrapaRāṁjūvula, svāmi . . .
the images of the holypaṁcavīras of the Vr̥ṣṇis. . .
the stone shrine... whom the magnificent matchless stone house of Toṣā was erected and maintained...
five objects of adoration made of stone, radiant, as it were with highest beauty...

• Hindu temple
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• Mountain Temple inscription

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• 19th-century archaeological discoveries
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