The Five Hundred were an itinerant group that became a community because of their operations.
Veera-Balanjas The lords of Ayyavole were called Vira-Balanjas. The term Vira-Balanja in Kannada and Vira-Valanjiyar in Tamil, Vira-Balija in Telugu, all of them mean "valiant merchants". There are several epigraphs available on the Veera-Balanjas. One example is an epigraph of 1531 CE from the Anilama village of
Cuddapah, which refers to the grant of certain toll-income (Magama) on articles of trade, such as cotton, yarn, cloth, etc., made by the Veera-Balanja merchant guild of Ayyavole, for the lamp-offerings of God Sangamesvara of that village. Copper-plate inscriptions of
Nellore mention that the organisation of Ayyavola, or
Ayyavola-enumbaru-swamigalu were the protectors of the Vira-Balanja dharma (aka Vira-Bananja dharma) and followed the Vira-Banaja-Samaya. According to an inscription dated 1240 CE found at Chintapalli in Guntur district, the Vira-Balanja Samaya (a trade corporation) consisted of Ubhayananadesis, the
Gavara, and the Mumuridandas; and they were the recipients of five hundred hero edicts. Of these, the Ubhayananadesis were a unit of merchants derived from all quarters and countries, consisting of Desis, Paradesis and Nanadesis, while the Gavares derived their name as a body of merchants worshipping God Gavaresvara. Some trade guilds were based on religious identities, such as the
Nakaras (a guild) which was a body of Vaisya devotees of Nakaresvara and the Gavares which was a body of
Balija devotees of Gavaresvara (
Sri Gavaresvara divya deva sripada padmaradhakulu). The Mummuridandas were warriors first and merchants next. An inscription of 1177 AD from Kurugodu, Bellary explicitly states that the Mummuridandas were an offshoot of the 'Five Hundred' who were eminent in Aryapura, that is, Aihole or Ayyavole (
srimad aryya nama pura mukhyabhutar enip ainurvarind adavid anvay ayatar). Trade corporations like Vira-Balanja-Samaya flourished under various empires despite wars and invasions.
Tamil sources A fragmentary Chera inscription datable to 1000 CE in the reign of Bhaskara Ravi, found on three broken stones in a mosque in Pandalayini-Kollam (near Kozhikode), refers to Valanjiyar and other merchants found in the assembly of Ayyavole-500 trade guild. It would seem that when the
Ayyavole-500 guild became a big overreaching guild of Southern India, most of the existing indigenous and local trade guilds became associated with it. The Manigramam and nanadesi guilds joined the Ayyavole-500. Due to the various Chola naval expeditions to Southeast Asia and the support provided by the Cholas to the Ayyavole guild, the Ayyavole guild emerged as a maritime power and continued to flourish in the kingdom of
Srivijaya (a dominant
thalassocratic city-state based on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia). This is well documented in an inscription of the Ayyavole guild of the year 1088 AD found in
Barus of
West Sumatra, Indonesia. South Indian merchants were also active in Burma and the Thai peninsula. ==See also==