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Srivijaya's Tamil Inscriptions: The Lobu Tua Mystery
Episode 64 of the Srivijaya series dives into the Lobu Tua stone, a Tamil inscription discovered near Barus on Sumatra's west coast. Dating to 1088 CE, it records a guild of Tamil merchants—the Ayyavole, or 'Five Hundred Lords of the World'—operating deep inside Srivijaya's sphere. Lucas and Luna explore what this stone tells us about long-distance trade networks, the role of foreign merchant enclaves in Srivijayan ports, and the surprising degree of autonomy these Tamil guilds enjoyed. They also unpack the political context: why were Tamil merchants allowed to set up…
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