Historical and numismatic evidences have been first presented to show that the Delhi Iron Pillar inscription of Chandra is not a posthumous inscription. Technical analysis of the characters of the inscription reveals that the characters were put on the surface by the die striking operation using dies of different characteristic shapes. The dies were struck more than once to provide each imprint on the surface. Both the die and material surfaces appear to have been in a cold condition during the die striking operation. Evidences have been provided to conclude that the inscription was die struck on the Pillar when it was in the vertical erect condition.

The Delhi Iron Pillar (Exhibit 1), located at the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque in New Delhi, is a marvelous engineering achievement considering that it was manufactured by forge-welding, 1600 years ago during the Gupta period. There are many inscriptions on the Iron Pillar. The oldest and largest among these inscriptions is a six-line three-stanza inscription in Sanskrit (Brahmi) which states that the pillar was erected to serve as a standard of Lord Vishnu at a place called Vishnupadagiri. This inscription also elaborates the military exploits of a monarch, who is simply referred to as Chandra in the inscription. On paleographic grounds (i.e., based on the nature of the characters of the Brahmi script of Sanskrit), the inscription can be dated to the early fifth century AD. Chandra has been identified unambiguously with Chandragupta II Vikramaditya (375-414AD) based on a detailed analysis of the archer-type gold coins of the imperial Guptas (320-600AD). The original location of the pillar, Vishnupadagiri (meaning hill with footprint of Vishnu), has been identified as modern Udayagiri, in the close vicinity of Besnagar, Vidisha and Sanchi—based on literary, archaeological, numismatic and geographic evidences. Moreover, the Vishnupadagiri site (i.e., Udayagiri) site was of astronomical importance as it is located on the Tropic of Cancer. Recent research has shown that the Iron Pillar was located at an astronomically significant position at Vishnupadagiri, such that the early morning shadow of the Iron Pillar fell on the foot of Anantasayana Vishnu in cave 13 only in the time period of the year around summer solstice. Therefore, the Delhi Iron Pillar also highlighted the astronomical knowledge that existed in the Gupta period, apart from providing solid proof of the metallurgical brilliance of this Golden Age of India.

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