File:473 CE, Mandsaur inscription of the Silk Weavers Guild, now at Gujri Mahal Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh.jpg

English: The Mandsaur inscription of the Silk Weavers was discovered accidentally at the Mahadeva Ghat near Pashupatinath temple in the 19th century by workers sent by J. F. Fleet to get a rubbing of the Sondhni pillar inscription. The inscribed object is a sandstone slab about 80 cm wide by 44 cm high and about 12 cm thick. After it was translated by Fleet and its extraordinary importance recognized, the stone was moved and is now kept in the Gujari Mahal Museum of Gwalior.

The inscription consists of 24 lines spaced about 1.5 cm apart, with letters that are about 6 mm tall. It is in a poetic verse composed in good classical Sanskrit, and written in late Brahmi script of the type found in Malwa–Bundelkhand region of India during the 4th and 5th centuries. Early translators of this inscription, including Fleet and Buhler, were so taken with it that they began comparing it to verses by the revered Hindu poet Kalidasa.

The inscription is dated to 473 CE, because the text provides this year in equivalent samvat. More specifically, the inscription provides two dates, one of the original temple's construction, the second of the year when the repairs were completed and when this inscription was engraved.

The inscription is important because:

• it states that a Surya temple was built and repaired by the Silk Weavers guild of Dasapura (Mandsaur's ancient name) ; given that weavers are considered Shudras in the classical caste system, this proves that at least some temples were built by a guild of Shudras and that Shudras were prosperous enough in ancient India (c. 5th century), could and actually did build and repair a temple for Surya (Sun god).
• It states that weavers from central and southern Gujarat moved to Mandsaur and resettled there, implying that workers migrated and moved in ancient India. Based on other details in the inscription and context, this migration from Saurashtra region to Malwa region must have occurred in 3rd or 4th century CE.
• the verse 14 praises the city and its Brahmins as "possessed of truthfulness, patience, self-control, tranquillity, vows, purity, steadfastness, recitation, comportment, discipline, stability and intelligence, who are storehouses of scholarship and ascetic power", implying that the weavers of the 5th century did not view Brahmins as their oppressors.
• the verses 16 to 19 of the inscription states the resettled weavers and their descendants expanded into other professions such as soldiers, musicians, writers, arts, astrology and the practice of law. These professions have traditionally been believed to be of different castes in the classical caste system; for example, soldiers are Kshatriyas. This, state scholars such as Indologist Daniel Balogh means that social mobility was possible in 5th century ancient India, at least in this region and in those centuries. (Balogh (2019), p. 93)
• Verses 20 to 29 praise silk, with poetic flourishes such as "feminine beauty cannot be complete without being wrapped in some silk." These verses imply a well developed and prosperous silk industry in ancient India by the 5th century. These verses also mention Kumaragupta, Visvavarman and Bandhuvarman, thus corroborating that this is a Gupta empire era inscription.
• Verses 31 to 41 describe when and how the Surya temple was built and repaired by the Silk Weavers guild, with the encouragement of the kind king, who treated them like his own sons.
• the last three verses 42 and 44 praise the temple and pray that it lasts forever (which, unfortunately, it did not). The colophon verse 44 mentions that the poem was composed by guild member Vatsabhatti. This is interesting because it implies that weavers (Shudras) —or at least some of them— were educated and had learned good Sanskrit in the 5th century.

Many other inscriptions discovered in different parts of India in the 20th-century suggest that such guilds and diverse donors and patrons of temples - both men and women - were not uncommon in pre-9th century India.

For scholarly details and discussion of this inscription, see:

• Daniel Balogh (2019), Inscriptions of the Aulikaras and Their Associates, De Gruyter, pp. 87–109
• RG Bhandarkar (1889), The Epoch of the Gupta Era, Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 17/2, pp. 80–98
• JF Fleet (1888), Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarun, Vol 3, pp. 79–88