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Secondary sourceDocumentshortly after 150 CE

Junagadh Rock Inscription of Rudradaman

Rudradaman I (commissioner) · shortly after 150 CE

A 2nd-century CE Sanskrit inscription on a rock in Gujarat that mentions Chandragupta Maurya's governor building a reservoir, the earliest inscription naming him.

The earliest surviving inscription naming Chandragupta, recording a reservoir built under his rule.

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Photo of a large, smooth, rounded granite boulder with a pitted, weathered surface, taken indoors under a pale arched ceiling. A small arched window is visible at the left edge. Faint marks and textured areas are visible on the rock, but the text is not clearly legible.
Junagadh rock inscription of Rudradaman, Sanskrit, shortly after 150 CE. Girnar, Gujarat.

About this source

What it is

This inscription, carved on a large rock near Junagadh in Gujarat, was made by order of the Western Satrap king Rudradaman I shortly after 150 CE. It sits alongside earlier edicts of the Mauryan emperor Ashoka and later ones of the Gupta king Skandagupta. Part of its text looks back nearly 500 years to record that the reservoir called Sudarshana was first built under Chandragupta Maurya by his official Pushyagupta.

Why it matters

It is the oldest surviving inscription to name Chandragupta Maurya, showing that his administration reached as far as Gujarat and built lasting irrigation works. It also shows that later rulers kept records of such projects across centuries, and the inscription itself is a landmark in the history of formal Sanskrit writing.

Look closer

  • Why would a king writing in 150 CE want to mention something built almost 500 years earlier?
  • What does the reservoir tell us about how the Mauryan empire managed resources?
  • What is missing from this inscription about Chandragupta himself?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Chandragupta Maurya on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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