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This small but historically momentous temple within Gwalior Fort holds a treasure that changed mathematics forever. An inscription on the temple wall, dated to 876 CE, contains the oldest known use of zero as a numeral in a place-value system — the mathematical zero that the world uses today. The inscription records a land grant and mentions measurements in "270" hastas and a garden "187" hastas long, with the zeros clearly written as small circles. The temple is dedicated to Vishnu in his four-armed (Chaturbhuj) form. While the temple architecture itself is modest compared to its neighbours, its contribution to human civilization is incalculable — quite literally, since without zero, modern mathematics, computing, and science would not exist.

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