"500" guilds

[Swaminathan Madhuresan]

A possible starter:
Meera Abraham, Two medieval merchant guilds of South India,
Delhi: Manohar, 1988

--- Artur Karp <hart at POLBOX.COM> wrote:
> At 06:50 1.06.1999 -0700, Swaminathan Madhuresan wrote:
>
> >In the Tamil inscriptions...>the merchant guilds of 500 from all(1000)
> directions are talked about.
>
> >The number five is important in those guilds, These merchants go
> >by the title, "Five Hunderd" ...
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> -----------------------
>
> I would like to know more about those "500" guilds. Is the number purely
> symbolic, or does it mirror some organizational system?
>
> In Buddhist literature monks, merchants, travellers, bandits, etc. form
> typically 500 members groups.
>
> Any connection with merchants "500" guilds?
>
> Artur Karp
>

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