The first epigraphic (inscriptional) evidence of the practice of sati in India is found in the:

The first inscriptional evidence of the practice of sati is found in the Eran inscription of the time of the Gupta king Bhanugupta, dated 510 CE.

About the Eran inscription:

• It is a pillar inscription found at Eran, in the Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh.
• It records that Goparaja, a chief or general and a follower of Bhanugupta, died fighting in a battle.
• It states that his devoted wife accompanied him on the funeral pyre, that is, she committed sati.
• It is dated in the Gupta era year 191, which corresponds to 510 CE.

About Eran:

• It is an important archaeological site on the Bina river, in the Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh.
• It has remains from the Chalcolithic period to the medieval period.
• It has important Gupta monuments, including a large statue of Varaha (the boar incarnation of Vishnu), a Vishnu temple, and a tall stone pillar (the Budhagupta pillar) with a figure of Garuda on top.
• It has the earliest known inscription of Samudragupta, and inscriptions of the Huna ruler Toramana.

About sati:

• "Sati" was the practice in which a widow burnt herself on her husband's funeral pyre.
• It was practised mainly among some upper-caste and royal families, and was not universal.
• Some ancient Greek writers mention it in north-western India.
• In medieval times, it was more common among the Rajputs.

Abolition of sati:

• Raja Rammohun Roy campaigned against sati in the early 19th century.
• The Governor-General Lord William Bentinck banned sati by law in 1829 (Bengal Sati Regulation, Regulation XVII).
• The Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987, was passed after the Roop Kanwar case in Rajasthan (1987).

Why not the other options?

• ✗The Allahabad pillar inscription praises Samudragupta.
• ✗The Aihole inscription is of Pulakeshin II.
• ✗The Junagadh rock inscription is of Rudradaman and Skandagupta.