[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.
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.
[3] The following passage on the guild of Ayyavolu merchants is taken from an inscription dated 1055 CE and summarises their activities and commodities:[4] Famed throughout the world, adorned with many good qualities, truth, purity, good conduct, policy, condescension, and prudence; protectors of the vira-Bananju-dharma [law 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,...The Five Hundred were an itinerant group that became a community because of their operations.
[12] 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.
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).
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.