31-478: Manigiramam, or manigramam, typically refers to a medieval merchant guild, organised by itinerant ethnic Indian traders, primarily active in south India. Along with the ainurruvar (the Ayyavole Five Hundred) and the anjuvannam (the anjuman) , the manigiramam played a major role in the commercial activities of the region. Unlike the anjuvannam which was confined to the port-towns of south India,
62-516: A fort on the coast of Ilangapuri ( Sri Lanka ). The fort was made of lodestone , and the enemy weapons thrown at it were stuck to its walls, rendering it invincible. Their chief enemy was Karunakaran, a vassal of the Chola emperor. In order to defeat the Vishwakarmas, Karunakaran planted many beautiful women (Brahmin women according to some versions of the legend) in the fort. These women married
93-591: A member of the community and its only historian in the written word. Somanathan's works, according to Varghese, "... are written from a pro-community perspective. Therefore, there are a lot of exaggerations and anti-brahmin tirades in Kerala". Somanathan argues that the artisanal groups were a part of the Indus Valley civilisation , pre-dating the arrival of Brahmins and their caste-based division of society. He claims implausible achievements are evidenced in both
124-824: A mosque in Pandalayini-Kollam (near Kozhikode), refers to Valanjiyar and other merchants found in the assembly of Ayyavole-500 trade guild. The Ayyavole-500 were simply called Ainuruvar in Tamil. In Visakhapatnam, three inscriptions were found, two in Telugu and one in Tamil. They were on the Ainuttava-perumballi (500 perumballi) in Visakhapatnam and dated to 1090 CE under the reign of the Ganga king Anantavarmadeva. Another Telugu inscription records
155-756: A similar grant to the same Ainuttava-Perumballi by the Chief Mahamandaleshvara Kulotungga Prithvisvara. The inscriptions suggest that the Anjuvannam people were patronized by the Ayyavole-500 guild and even treated as members of that 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
186-545: The Vishwakarma Puranam , whose original manuscript is undated but was most probably created in the mid-17th or 18th century. According to a popular myth recorded in the Vishwakarma Puranam , the five children of the god Vishwakarma served the gods as artisans, and possessed the ability to create things by simply visualising them. They had conserved their veerya by being celibates, and lived in
217-528: The Cholas . 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. The following passage on the guild of Ayyavolu merchants is taken from an inscription dated 1055 CE and summarises their activities and commodities: Famed throughout
248-468: The ainurruvar . The ainurruvar, in and after the 12th century CE, acted as an "umbrella organization" to cover all other merchant guilds. Five Hundred Lords of Ayyavolu 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
279-590: The gotras (clans) of blacksmiths, carpenters, bell metalworkers (metal casters), stonemasons and goldsmiths. It is not known whether these five subgroups historically practised endogamy , which is a frequently-found feature of the Indian caste system. The origin myths of the Vishwakarma community were first consolidated in the early 18th century, during the British colonial rule . These myths were compiled in
310-405: The 5th century CE. The first reference to manigiramam is found in two copper plate grants from south Karnataka (from Melekote, Tumkur and from Hassan district), both datable to the 5th century CE. The Melekote charter records a grant of land to a Buddhist shrine. The Quilon Syrian copper plates , of 9th century CE, also attests the presence of the manigiramam representatives. It seems that by
341-1149: The 9th century CE. 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. 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. 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
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#1732765102414372-498: The 9th century the manigramam had become interested in ocean trade too and collaborated with the anjuvannam (the anjuman) on the western coast. A Tamil inscription from Takua Pa (9th century CE) in Thailand refers to a manigiramam guild. From the early 10th century the ainurruvar (the Ayyavole Five Hundred) expanded as the superior guild of merchants of south India. The manigiramam and anjuvannam were incorporated later into
403-723: 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
434-534: 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. A fragmentary Chera inscription datable to 1000 CE in the reign of Bhaskara Ravi, found on three broken stones in
465-504: The Thai peninsula. Vishwakarma (caste) The Vishwakarma community are a social group of India, sometimes described as a caste . They claim themselves to be Brahmin or of high-status in the caste hierarchy, although these claims are not generally accepted outside the community. The community comprises five subgroups— carpenters , blacksmiths , bronze smiths, goldsmiths and stonemasons — claim to be descendants of Vishvakarma ,
496-790: 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
527-422: The Vishwakarma of the medieval period should be distinguished as craftsmen, arguing that "... while every craftsman was an artisan, every artisan was not a craftsman". Ramaswamy notes that the socio-economic and geographic stability of a medieval village-based maker of ploughs differed considerably from that of the various people who banded together as Vishwakarma and lived a relatively itinerant lifestyle that
558-531: The Vishwakarmas have claimed a higher social status for many years, and believe that the trades which they traditionally follow are superior to the work of a manual labourer because they require artistic and scientific skills as well as those of the hand. According to George Varghese, their claim to high status is "one of the mainstays of Vishwakarma identity" in what is otherwise a fragmented, incoherent community that has often suffered from internal differences of opinion. Their claim has been voiced by Edava Somanathan,
589-454: The Vishwakarmas, thus destroying their spiritual power, and learned the secret that a certain type of poisonous grass could be used to burn up the fort. Using this secret, the enemy blew up the fort, and the Vishwakarmas were scattered in various areas, where they were forced to work as artisans and craftsmen for mortal humans. While many sources refer to the five subgroups of the Vishwakarma as artisans, historian Vijaya Ramaswamy believes that
620-486: The arts and sciences during that egalitarian pre-Brahmin era, including the construction of aeroplanes. This claim to Brahmin status is not generally accepted outside the community, despite their assumption of some high-caste traits, such as wearing the sacred thread , and the Brahminisation of their rituals. For example, the sociologist M. N. Srinivas , who developed the concept of sanskritisation , juxtaposed
651-417: The builder and architect of heavenly realm, a Hindu deity. The community claims to be descended from the god Vishvakarma , who is considered by Hindus to be the divine architect or engineer of the universe. He had five children — Manu , Maya , Tvastar , Shilpi and Visvajna — and these are believed by the Vishwakarma community to have been the forebears of their five subgroups, being respectively
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#1732765102414682-939: The conduits for transporting Indian culture to Southeast Asia. Evidences show that the erection of temples and mathas depended upon royal patronage and mercantile guilds like Ayyavolu, Nakaramu and Komatis who supported temple building activity. Similarly temple building activity also depended upon guilds of architects or the Acharyas of the Vishwakarma-Kula who also seem to have organised themselves into guilds based on geographical divisions. The lords of Ayyavolu 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". These merchants styled themselves as protectors of Vira Balanja Dharma ( Vira Balanja Dharma Pratipalanulu ) and often figured in
713-439: The guild of Five Hundred were found in ports and commercial centres. They endowed temples, fed Brahmans, and contributed to the maintenance of irrigation works. Their inscriptions dot the entire southern peninsula, tracing an inter-regional and international network of merchants. Some of these merchants were called " nanadesi " (or "of many countries), while some were called " swadesi " (or "of own country"). These traders were one of
744-644: The inscriptions of medieval Andhra . 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 Ayyavolu, for the lamp-offerings of God Sangamesvara of that village. Copper-plate inscriptions of Nellore mention that
775-587: The manigramam is found both in the port-towns and in the hinter-land trade centres. A body of merchants known as "the Vani ggrama" or "Vaniya grama" attest its presence in north India as early as first century BC. They appear in a Karle inscription (first century BCE), a charter of king Vishnusena from Kathiawad (6th century CE) and in a Sanjeli charter of king Toramana (6th century CE). Records of activities of manigramam in South India are visible from
806-804: 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,
837-423: 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
868-448: 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. In comparison to other guilds, they were considered the most flamboyant. Together with another guild of merchants called Manigramam,
899-647: The success of the Lingayat caste in achieving advancement within Karnataka society by such means with the failure of the Vishwakarma to achieve the same. Their position as a left-hand caste has not aided their ambition. They have been included in the list of Other Backward Classes in some states of India. The following castes are considered to be members of the Vishwakarma community : The Tamil Vishwakarmas are locally known as Kammalar , although they prefer to be known as Vishwakarma. They are divided into
930-458: 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
961-552: Was dependent on the "temple economy" that waxed and waned as dynasties such as the Vijayanagar Empire were formed and disintegrated. The latter group, who did work in proximity to each other while constructing and embellishing temples, had opportunities for socio-economic advancement but also bore the risks of withdrawal of patronage and changes in religious focus. In Andhra Pradesh , Telangana and Uttar Pradesh they come under Other Backward Class . In Kerala ,