Global InformationFive Hundred Lords of Ayyavolu information
The Five Hundred Lords of Ayyavole were a merchant guild from Aihole that provided trade links between trading communities in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. They have been mentioned in inscriptions from the 9th century CE.[1] Aihole was formerly a major city of the Chalukyas of Badami and a place with many temples and brahmans, some of whom seem to have become involved in the trading activities of the Five Hundred.[1] But most of the Ayyavolu Lords were merchants, especially those engaged in long-distance trade. Their inscriptions between the 9th and 14th centuries record their endowments made to temples and throw light on their trading activities or commodities.[1]
The Five Hundred guild, known as Ayyavole in Kannada, Ayyavolu in Telugu, Aryarupa in Sanskrit, and Ainuruvar in Tamil, operated in Southern India and Southeast Asia. They became more powerful under the Cholas.[2] They were protectors of the Veera-Banaju-Dharma, that is, law of the heroic or noble merchants. The Bull was their symbol which they displayed on their flag; and they had a reputation for being daring and enterprising.[3]
- ^ a b c A History of India, by Burton Stein and David Arnold, p.120
- ^ Nagapattinam to Suvarnadwipa: reflections on Chola naval expeditions to Southeast Asia by Hermann Kulke, K. Kesavapany and Vijay Sakhuja, p.xviii and p.181
- ^ Peranakan Indians of Singapore and Melaka: Indian Babas and Nonyas--Chitty Melaka, by Samuel Dhoraisingam, p.3