In search of the world's oldest zero

We piled out of four cars, sixteen of us in white shirts painted with large zeroes on the front. We were on pilgrimage to see the world's oldest zero. That is the earliest known written record of a zero. Our guide asked us to wait in the shade of the gate of Gwalior's Fort, as he went in search of the one person who had the key that could unlock this wonder for our eyes. After a long enough wait to attract the attention of two groups of Indian tourists as well as all of the children trying to sell postcards and water he reappeared. Then led us down the slope of the cobblestone path which one would normally say led up to the fort. Except it was clear we weren't headed to the fort as its walls begin to loom over us, seemingly standing taller after every twist. As we approached the third turn he asked a few men to give up their seat on a small flight of crumbling stairs so that we might go up to a small temple nestled against the side of the wall. It is rather unassuming with nothing to mark it as such a historical spot; I suspect very few people who go to Gwalior fort ever make it here (in fact our guide said he had never been inside the temple before). The magical keys came out and the man from the fort struggled to open the rusted gate enough that we could slip inside. There, on the wall to the left of the altar, among the inscription about the gift of a garden some wealthy Indian made to the temple, up towards the top left corner are the numbers 270, most importantly the oldest known record of a written zero. Supposedly there is another zero in the inscription, a bit farther down next to something like a fish hook, but it is not as clearly identifiable, and being lower down can't claim to be the oldest. I have to admit, I made two trips into the temple (after all, only three people could fit in at a time), the first time I was so excited to see the zero I didn't think to try to take a picture with it, can't go passing up that opportunity! After all how often do you get a chance to do a bit of math tourism?