Description : 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. 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 evidence of sati (immolation of widow) is found in an inscription (AD 510) at Eran in Madhya Pradesh. 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)
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