English: This lion capital stood on a pillar at the Udayagiri caves. In order to support his huge stone artwork, it must have been a equally impressive pillar.

It was moved to the Gujari Mahal museum in Gwalior during the colonial era.

Background:

The Udayagiri Caves, sometimes referred to as the Udaigiri or Udaygiri or Udayagiri gupha, are ancient predominantly Hindu rock-cut monuments near Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh. They are among the oldest surviving Gupta Empire era monuments and cave temples in India (c. 375–450 CE). The site also contains some Jain caves excavated at the later date, as well as remains of Hindu structural temples on the top of the rocky hill that were built in later centuries. These caves near Vidisha should not be confused with the Udayagiri caves in the suburbs of Bhubaneswar, Odisha – which are predominantly Jain monuments.

The Udayagiri caves site contains a group of 20 caves, one monolithic pillar and one large structural temple ruins. All of the twenty caves except one are Hindu. Cave 20 at the northern top of the hill is the Jaina cave, while Cave 1 though originally for Surya, now has a Jain Tirthankara statue in a corner of the sanctum. The pillar and temple ruins are at the top of the Udayagiri hill. This site has many Brahmi and Nagari script inscriptions, of which three are particularly notable as they help date these caves variously to 402 CE and 425 CE. Others help confirm that this site remained in active Hindu use at least through the 11th-century. The Cave 5 and 6 contain famous sculptures such as one of Vishnu-Varaha.