Eran
Eran is an ancient town and archaeological site in the Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh, India. It was one of the ancient mints for Indian dynasties as evidenced by the diverse coins excavated here. The site has 5th and 6th-century Gupta era temples and monuments, particularly the colossal stone boar with sages and scholars depicted on the body of the sculpture. The inscription stones found at Eran are important to reconstructing the chronology of Gupta Empire history. Eran or Erakina was the capital of Erakina (Airikina) Pradesha or Airkina Vishaya, an administrative division of the Gupta empire. Etymology The ancient name of Eran (), Erakaina, Erakanya or Erakina (as mentioned in the inscriptions); Airikina (, as mentioned in the inscription of Samudragupta) or Erikina (as mentioned in the inscription of Toramana) is derived from Eraka. The word erakā probably refers to a tall grass commonly called the Elephant cattail, botanical name Typha elephantina, which grows at Eran in abundance. Location Eran is located on the south bank of Bina River in Madhya Pradesh. It is about north-northeast of the ancient Vidisha-Sanchi-Udayagiri site, about west-northwest of Sagar, and about northeast of Bhopal. At the site, the river makes an inverted "U" turn, surrounding it with water on three sides, which Cunningham stated made it "a very favorite position for Hindu towns". The terrain is forested and hilly, with high grounds shielding the south of the Eran town. History Eran is an ancient city, one that finds mention as Erakaina or Erakanya in Buddhist and Hindu texts, on ancient coins and inscriptions nearby and distant sites such as Sanchi. It is now a small town surrounded by many mounds, likely archaeological remains of its distant past. The archaeological site nearby Eran has revealed several Gupta Empire era inscriptions. The town of Eran has a museum with a collection of archaeological relics. The first epigraphical evidence of sati (immolation of widow) is found in an inscription at Eran, the Inscription of Bhanugupta (510 CE). Archaeology The following sequence of cultures have been obtained and carbon dated at the site of Eran Period I: Chalcolithic (1800 BC-700 BC) Period II: Early historic (700 BC-2nd century BC) Period IIB: 2nd century BC - 1st century AD Period III: 1st century - 600 AD Period IV: late medieval (16th century AD - 18th century AD) Description The complex initially consisted in a twin temple dedicated to Vāsudeva and Saṃkarṣaṇa, and guarded by the 13 meter Garuda pillar. Temples A group of ancient Hindu temples are located to the west of the Eran town. These are not aligned to the east or any cardinal direction, but to 76 degrees, or about 14 degrees off towards north from east. This suggests that they likely date to the Gupta period. According to Cunningham, this deliberate shift for all the temples and some other Gupta era Hindu temple sites may be to match the one nakshatra measure (lunar movement in one day), or one twenty-seventh part of 360 degrees. All