Mora Mathura

Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (Retd.)

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Mathura district map

Mora (मोरा) is village in Mathura tahsil in Mathura district in Uttar Pradesh.

Variants

• Mora Mathura मोरा, जिला मथुरा, उ.प्र., (p.764)

Location

Mora is located 7 miles west of Mathura city नगला मोरा ग्राम में मोर गोत्र के जाट निवास करते हैं।

Jat Gotra

• Kuntal
• Mor

Mora Inscription of Brihaspatimitra

The Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, 1912 mentions....[p.120]: Under the supervision of Pandit Radha Krishna some trial excavations were carried out on various ancient sites round Mathura out of funds provided by the Government of India. These sites include 1. Mora, 2. Ganeshra, and 3. Jaisinghpura.

The first site examined was that of Mora, 7 miles west of Mathura city, well known to epigraphists as the find-place of the so-called Mora well inscription, now in the Mathura Museum.¹ The expectation that images of the Pandavas, apparently referred to in that inscription as pancha viranam pratimah (पंच वीरानां प्रतिमा:), would come to light, has not been fulfilled.²

The most important discovery made at Mora consists of eight fragments of large-sized bricks (16-1/2 by 8 by 2-1/2 in.), bearing dedicatory inscriptions in Brahmi characters of the Maurya-Sunga period. From the different fragments we obtain the following legend, in which one missing akshara has been supplied (Pl. II, Fig. 1) : Jivaputāye Rājabharyāye Brihāsvātimita [dhi] tu³ Yasha matāye kāritam (जीवपुताए राजभर्याए बृहास्वातिमित [धि] तु यश मताए कारितं), “Made by order of Yashamatā, the daughter (?) of Brihasvatimita, the king’s consort [and] the mother of living sons,”

I propose to identify the Brihasvatimita of these inscriptions with Bahasatimita (Sanskrit: Brihaspati-mitra बृहस्पतिमित्र), whose coins have been found at Kosam, about thirty miles south-west of Allahabad, and at Ramnagar (Ahichchhatra) in Rohilkhand.⁴ His daughter, Yashamata (यशमता), was evidently the wife of the ruler of Mathura, whose name unfortunately is not mentioned. On account of the character I feel inclined to assign these inscriptions to the third or second century B.C., which is the approximate date adopted for Bahasatimita.

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1. Cf. Catalogue of the Archaeological Museum at Mathura (Allahabad, 1910), pp. 184 ff.

2. Cf. JRAS.

3. The i stroke of the syllable preceding tu is still partly preserved.

4. V. A. Smith, Catalogue of the Coins in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, Oxford, 1906, pp. 146, 155, 185.

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Mora Mathura inscription of Vrishni Viras

Mora Mathura well inscription of five Vrishni Viras in 1st century BC

In the 1st century BC, there seems to be evidence for a worship of five Vrishni heroes Balarama, Krishna, Pradyumna, Aniruddha and Samba) for an inscription has been found at Mora near Mathura, which apparently mentions a son of the great satrap Rajuvula, probably the satrap Sodasa, and an image of Vrishni, "probably Vasudeva, and of the "Five Warriors". Brahmi inscription on the Mora stone slab, now in the Mathura Museum.,

Doris Srinivasan writes that The Mora well inscription, dating to early decades of CE, kindles anticipation that images of Vrishni Viras should be forthcoming in the Mathura region. At Mora a village 7 miles from Mathura, an inscription was found which states that the images of five Vrishni Heroes were installed in a stone shrine of a person called Tosa (तोषा). Five Vrishni Viras have been identified from a passage in Vayu Purana (97.1-2). They are Samkarsana, Vadudeva, Pradyumna, Sāmba, and Aniruddha. The Vishnudharmottara Purana mentions these five deities within a series that also includes Devaki, Yashoda, Ekanaṃṥā, Rukmini, Satyabhama, and Yuyudhana. The Mora well inscription is one of several testimonials of beliefs preceding and leading upto the formation of Hindu sect of Vaishnavism. Vaishnavism is preceded by the Bhagavata religion of which first stage is the cult of Panchavira Vrishnis.

Seven miles west of Mathura in the small and unimposing village of Mora, General Cunningham made another vital find regarding the historicity of Vaisnavism. In 1882, on the terrace of an ancient well, he discovered a large stone slab filled with inscriptions. Although more than half of the writing had already peeled away on the right side, the remainder was legible. It was transcribed, and a facsimile of the inscription was published in the Archaeological Survey of India’s Annual Report. The message was clear. Not only was Krishna worshiped in the centuries before Christ, but also His expansions or associates, especially "the five heroes of the Vrishni Clan." Scholarly research makes evident that these five are Krishna (Vasudeva), Balarama (Sankarshana), Pradyumna, Samba, and Aniruddha.

In 1908, a Dr. Vogel had the Mora Well slab removed to the Mathura Museum and tried to tamper with the translations of the inscriptions in order to throw the Vedic religion into a bad light. However, because the contents of the inscriptions had already been published authoritatively and were well known in academic circles, Dr. Vogel’s efforts at creating disinformation failed. The complex theology, metaphysics, and cosmology of Sanatana Dharma and Vaisnavism definitely existed in an advanced state centuries before Christ. The Mora Well inscription is an important archeological proof of this historical fact.

मोरा, जिला मथुरा

विजयेन्द्र कुमार माथुर ने लेख किया है ....मोरा गाँव (AS, p.764) ज़िला मथुरा, उत्तर प्रदेश में स्थित है। मोरा ग्राम से महाक्षत्रप शोडास (80-57 ई. पू.) के समय का एक शिला पट्ट लेख प्राप्त हुआ था जो मथुरा के संग्रहालय में है। इससे ज्ञात होता है कि इस ग्राम में तोषा नामक किसी स्त्री ने एक मंदिर बनवाकर पंचवीरों की मूर्तियां स्थापित की थीं। डॉ. ल्यूडर्स के मत में इस लेख में जिन पंचवीरों का उल्लेख है वे कृष्ण, बलराम आदि यदुवंशीय योद्धा थे। लेख उच्चकोटि की संस्कृत में है और छंद भुजंगप्रयात है। इसी ग्राम से एक स्त्री की मूर्ति भी प्राप्त हुई है जो ल्यूडर्स के मत में तोषा की है। यहीं से तीन महावीरों

[p.765]: की मूर्तियां मिली थीं जो अब मथुरा-संग्रहालय में सुरक्षित हैं। एक अभिलिखित ईट भी मोरा से प्राप्त हुइ थी जो मथुरा संग्रहालय में सुरक्षित है जिससे ज्ञात होता है कि जिस भवन में यह ईंट लगी थी उसे बृहस्पतिमित्र की पुत्री राजभार्या यशोमती ने बनवाया था। यह बृहस्पतिमित्र वहीं शुंग-वंशीय नरेश जान पड़ता है जिसके सिक्के कौशांबी तथा अहिच्छत्र में प्राप्त हुए थे। यशोमती का विवाह मथुरा के किसी राजा से हुआ होगा।

मोरा से क्षत्रप रंजुबल का भी अभिलेख प्राप्त हुआ है। इसमें इसे महाक्षत्रप कहा गया है। इसका समय प्रथम शती ई. है। शकक्षत्रपों के इन अभिलेखों से सिद्ध होता है कि मथुरा पर प्रथम-द्वितीय शती ई. में शकों का प्रभुत्व था।

References

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