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The Five Hundred Lords of Ayyavole were a merchant guild from Aihole that provided trade links between trading communities in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. They have been mentioned in inscriptions from the 9th century.〔''A History of India'', by Burton Stein and David Arnold, p.120〕 Aihole was formerly a capital 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.〔''A History of India'', by Burton Stein and David Arnold, p.120〕 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.〔''A History of India'', by Burton Stein and David Arnold, p.120〕 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 although the strong Chola control over them restricted their own cultural activities.〔''Nagapattinam to Suvarnadwipa: reflections on Chola naval expeditions to Southeast Asia'' by Hermann Kulke, K. Kesavapany and Vijay Sakhuja, p.xviii and p.181〕 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.〔''Peranakan Indians of Singapore and Melaka: Indian Babas and Nonyas--Chitty Melaka'', by Samuel Dhoraisingam, p.3〕 ==Description== The following passage on the guild of Ayyavolu merchants is taken from an inscription dated 1055 AD and summarises their activities and commodities:〔(''A History of India'', by Burton Stein and David Arnold, p.121 )〕 ''Famed throughout the world, adorned with many good qualities, truth, purity, good conduct, policy, condescension, and prudence; protectors of the vira-Bananju-dharma (of the heroic traders ), having 32 veloma, 18 cities, 64 yoga-pithas, and asramas at the four points of the compass; born to be wanderers over many countries, the earth as their sack,....the serpent race as the cords, the betel pouch as a secret pocket'',... ''by land routes and water routes penetrating into the regions of the six continents, with superior elephants, well-bred horses, large sapphires, moonstones, pearls, rubies, diamonds,...cardamoms, cloves, sandal, camphor, musk, saffron and other perfumes and drugs, by selling which wholesale or hawking about on their shoulders, preventing the loss by customs duties, they fill up the emperor's treasury of gold, his treasury of jewels, and his armoury of weapons; and from the rest they daily bestow gifts on pundits and munis; white umbrellas as their canopy, the mighty ocean as their moat, Indra as the hand-guard of their swords, Varuna as the standard bearer, Kubera as the treasurer,...'' 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Five Hundred Lords of Ayyavolu」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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