Experience the Knowledge of Celebrating Shankha

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Experience the Knowledge of India Celebrating Shankha

Celebrating Shankha

Shankha, Sea shells and are doubtlessly one of Nature’s wonders. It is uncanny how such small, spineless, boneless, shy, slimy sea creatures can create enough calcium to produce such exotically patterned shells as their protective cover and home.

How despite being a simple mollusk and uneducated, they create their homes which are not only pieces of art, but are also such wonders of Mathematics, enough to leave us astonished! Shankha – Beauty Of Maths

Nature’s Fibonacci Series The Fibonacci series explained in Mathematics is very interesting to observe. The ratio of the consecutive numbers, barring the first few, settles down to a standard ratio – 1.618 called Ø, Phi.

This ratio is called the Golden Ratio or Golden Mean and can be seen in many naturally appealing structures of the universe.

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Golden Spiral, basis for the whorl arrangement in leaves, flowers, fruits and shells

Nature’s Innate Design pattern Rectangles stacked based on this Golden Ratio yield a rectangle called the Golden Rectangle. A curve called the Golden Spiral emerging from these rectangles is seen reflected in the very design of the cosmos itself and many objects within the cosmos.

The Golden Rectangle with Golden Mean, Base for the Golden Spiral & Galaxy

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The Golden Ratio is called the Divine Proportion and can be seen in many well balanced, symmetrical objects be it in the plant world, animal kingdom as well as in the Nature created human body and Human created buildings and art. The golden ratio eventually yields a cone like structure going as a whorl up, down or sideways. This golden spiral is in the shape of a and can be seen in the internal design of the Shankha.

Though called Fibonacci series in the West, the world has now woken up to the fact that the explanation of this marvel of Nature was initially put down as a mathematical series by an Indian mathematician called Hemachandra. This series is now also known as Hemachandra Series.

But Hemachandra too had only expounded the ancient Indian knowledge called Meru Prastara, ie. layered / serial growth of triangles, pyramids, Meru.

Meru Prastara Triangles

Autobiography of India, Brand Bharat Volume 2, Roots in India has more on Meru Prastara, Fibonacci and Hemachandra Series,

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A Global Phonetic and Semantic Connect The word Shankha for conch in India and the word ‘Conch’ for sea shells in English have a phonetic and etymological connect.

The English word Conch traces its root to Latin Concha.

The Latin Concha in turn traces its root to Greek Konkhe.

Konkhe in turn can be traced to Indian Shankha as it is just a slip away from Shankha/Shankhe. When the syllable ‘Sh’ due to inability to pronounce gets mutated, it can end up as a ‘kh’ sound. Shankha thus can end up as Kankhe. It is hard for it to be mutated the other way around. A Sacred Sound Conches have an important place in the Indian tradition and culture.

The reverberating sound of conch is associated with the sacred sound of .

The blowing of conch is an important aspect of worship in India, the sound of which signifies the Nada – Divine in the form of sound.

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Conch blowing – An Universal practice Every native society expresses Om as the sound of the universe. The blowing of Shankha is an important part of festival all across the world. Even for the tribes of India, the Shankha sound was divine.

Every native society across the world expressed the Shankha sound

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Monpa girl from Arunachal Pradesh

Shankha blowing in Africa

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Shankha blowing in South America

Shankha blowing in Mexico

The sound of Om is represented as Hum in and it is Shankha that is used to represent this sound of Hum. This has been beautifully brought out in an ancient painting from Tibet.

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Tibetan painting with Shankha at each ear to represent the sound Hum

The Tibetan Buddhist monks blowing conch on the occasion of Tibetan New Year – Losar, at Dharmasala

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It is amazing indeed that even high up in altitude, in places like Tibet, far away from the sea coast, Shankha has been used as the object for sound and that too the sound of OM. Association with Ear and Hear – A Natural Shape It is interesting that the shape of a Conch is like that of an ear. Also just like the Conch, the inner most part of the human ear is a spiral organ called the Cochlea. The Cochlea is called the organ of hearing and is very essential to hearing sounds.

Strange that Nature has created the best sound producer in the form of a Conch and created a sound receiver in the form of a human ear, both of which have concentric circular tubes as one of the essential aspect of their design.

Similarity between a Conch and a human Ear Association Between Conch and Throat

A Mudra It is amazing to see the correlation between an external object that produces sound and a similar looking mudra, hand gesture, that helps to cure sound and speech related health problems in a human body.

Shankha Mudra is a hand gesture that is used in Yoga to cure speech related issues such as stammering, clearing of throat, hoarse voice as well as Thyroid issues etc.

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Shankha Mudra

It is indeed a matter of great wonder how Nature has created this connect between these 2 natural sound producers – the Conch and the Throat via a uniting therapy called Yoga.

An Anatomical Association As a matter of fact, the projection in the throat called the Adam’s Apple in human anatomy, is referred to in many Indian languages as Shankha.

A diagrammatic view of Adam’s apple and the Larynx and Vocal Cords behind it

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The Adam’s Apple is a protrusion formed due to the bump created by the Thyroid cartilage covering the Larynx, behind which lie the Vocal Cords. This cartilage protects the wall and the front of the Larynx.

It was named Adam’s Apple in Western medicine, because in Western theology, the piece of apple offered by Eve got stuck in the throat of Adam. This protrusion was to remind people of this theological idea.

Adam Accepting Apple from Eve

However in its name as Shankha in Indian anatomy, one can see clearly, the clear understanding that Indians had had about human anatomy and its functions. For, in humans, it is the vocal cords and the Larynx that produce sound just like the Conch, Shankha.

One of the slangs in Tamil for slashing the throat of a person is “Shangu aru”, meaning slash the Shankar part of the neck. The Shankha here refers to the centre and tender area of the throat.

Interesting to see striation marks on the Conch resemble the vocal cords too.

Horizontal striations on Conches which resemble Vocal Cords

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It is indeed amazing how the ancient Indians had such a sound knowledge of not only human anatomy but also the physics of sound and the art of making sound.

It also brings to fore how they had carefully chosen the right analogy and nomenclature so that one word like Shankha here for a protrusion in throat will impart knowledge on many aspects such as anatomy, physics, music, beauty and Nature. Association with Divinities – A Cosmic Sound From the start of Purana writing tradition in India, Lord in all His forms has been depicted with a Conch, Shankha in His hand.

It even has a name – . Besides Puranic legends of how this Conch came to be made from the ashes of an called Panchajana, Panchajanya also denotes that which has come about based on the 5 primordial elements and the senses associated with them, such as

 Akasha (Space) with sound and hence hearing,

 Vayu (Air) with touch and hence touching,

 Agni (Fire) with sight and hence seeing

 Apah (Water) with taste and hence tasting

 Prthvi (Earth) with odour and hence smelling.

The 5 Primordial Elements - Panchabhuta

In a way, a conch can be experienced using all the 5 senses.

It can be heard. It can blow air. It can be seen. It is held at the lips. It smells of sea.

Above all, its sound stuns the mind and draws it into a focused state.

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The Panchajanya of Lord Vishnu is considered as the foremost amongst all conches.

Lord Vishnu holding His Conch Shankha, a Sign of Divinity It is interesting that a Shankha finds place as one of the symbols of Divinity.

Among the many patterns found on the sole, pada of a person, a Shankha on the sole indicates the person to be Divine.

This has been one of the characteristic ways to identify that someone is a Divine personage. It has been held so across ages as this Divine mark, Chinna has been associated with the Pada of Lord , Lord , Lord Buddha, Lord Narayan and many other such illustrious and Divine personages. Amongst the Jain Tirthankars, each one had a distinguishing mark on His toe. In that line of Tirthankars, Lord had the symbol of a Shankha on His toe and hence Shankha was associated with Him.

One of the most revered such footprint is called Vishnu Pada in Gaya.

Foot shaped plates in copper with symbols from the Vishnu Pada are kept in homes for auspiciousness.

For, in the Indian tradition of worship, Sampradaya, the Holy feet of the Lord and that of one’s Guru and even elders in the family are considered very sacred. They are meant to act as guides in one’s life. Such acts in the Sampradaya are symbolic of the message, that the Holy feet of the Lord, in His divine cosmic abode is attainable only by following the footsteps advocated by one’s Guru.

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Vishnu Pada at Gaya Copper Plates of Vishnu Pada

This holds good for the feet of feminine divinities as well, as can be seen from the symbols on the feet of the idol of Ranganayaki, the consort of Ranganatha in Srirangam, a form of Vishnu.

Footprint with sacred symbols on the feet of Devi Ranganayakai

Shankha is thus equally sacred for both genders and also denotes sacredness in both genders. In the epics and Purana In the , and other Purana, we see that the blowing of conch is associated with heralding / announcing an auspicious event, even death, a duel, a victory and a success. Infact,

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“blowing a shankh”, “Sangu oodharadu” synonymous with announcing death, has become a slang in Tamil to express a major downfall.

Hence many important personalities across times have had their own Shankha to announce. We can see that from the Mahabharata.

The mentions about the conch that were blown by Lord Krishna, and also by Bheema and many others.

Some of the relevant slokas even give the names of the conch of Krishna and the .

Krishna and Arjuna blowing their Conch

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Thus, we see that, just like mobile phone, each of the warriors in ancient days had their own Conch, with own specialties.

The Mahabharata and Bhagavad Gita date to 3100 BCE, which we have shown in our book ‘Historical Krishna”.

Blowing a Conch, Shankha to Clear Doubts, Shankha Interesting is the custom to blow a Conch to announce or herald anything.

The word for “conch” in India, is Shankha, which is very similar to the word for “doubt” Shanka in sound. The difference is in the ending “kha” and “ka” and syllable. Aashanka meaning doubtless.

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Indeed, looking at a Shankha lying still, one is in doubt, Shanka if there is a creature tucked deep inside or not.

It is only when one can blow through a Shankha, conch, loud and clear, can one confirm that there is no creature inside blocking the airway.

Thus blowing a Conch is a way of clearing all airs of doubt with a confirming siren. An Auspicious Connect The connect between the name Shankha for Conch in India and its use as an “Announcing Siren” or “Heralding Horn” seems to have an etymological connect too.

Shankha in Samskrt, means “that which brings auspiciousness”.

This word is etymologically similar to Shankara, a name for Lord to denote the auspiciousness that Shiva stands for.

The forced, spiraling column of airwaves coming out from a Shankha clears all irregular air movement patterns in the surrounding air and creates a streamlined pattern, concentric, circular waves, a pattern that is considered harmonic.

Due to this, that Conch blowing would have come into practice as a way to not just announce and confirm something beyond doubt like the call for war or someone’s death, but also to make the air auspicious and herald good things.

With its spiral pathway and spout it has therefore also been used as an auspicious water pouring spout for bathing idols in India, as compared to regular containers.

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A Healthy Connect – Shankha Prakshalana If Shankha is used to pour water and ritually cleanse idols, Shankha Prakshalana is a Digestive system cleansing process in Yoga / .

Prakshalana means to cleanse completely. Here a water preparation and a set of Yogasanas are alternated to ensure that the water travels through the entire digestive tract and cleanses it.

If one examines the Asanas performed during this cleansing process, Kriya, they resemble the concentric circular structure of a conch and the way the creature would have to move inside out.

Starting with standing straight and stretching upwards as though climbing up to the top of the conch via its spine, the body is twisted / stretched in wider circlesr and is finally twisted to a narrowed posture just like a conch, which is wide on top and concentrically narrows out at the bottom.

Asanas in Shankha Prakshalana, Asana Image Courtesy – MantarVigyan

Further, the Gastro-intestinal tract of the body, too is like a conch.

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Gastro-Intestinal Tract in a Human

Like the conch which is a spiral canal inside a shell through which the sea creature actually moves up and down, in and out, the Gastro-intestinal tract is also a tubular pipe, from input end to output end of the body, through which the food and water move in and out, down and around. The small intestines which are very long in length, lie coiled inside the abdomen within the outer frame of the large intestine, which in turn lies inside the shell called the body.

What a beautiful correlation to look at a process and the body as a Shankha!

Furthermore, what an application of what is in Nature to one’s own body! A Place for Shankha in Indian Geography

Shankha Dvipa In ancient Indian literature, the entire globe has been divided into 7 continents called Dvipa. The Eurasian landmass in which lies India, is referred to as Jambu Dvipa.

Jambu is the name for fruits of the Syzygium family such as the Black Plum or Black Cherry, commonly called Jamun in North and Naaval in Tamil, as well as Water Rose Apple, commonly called PeruNaval in Tamil and Jambu/Jambul in the North. Dvipa is an island.

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Black Plum, Jamun Water Rose Apple, Jambu

One of the regions in this Jambu Dvipa is known as Shankha Dvipa meaning an island in the shape of a Conch. In the Purana it is mentioned as the region of Nagas, with the residence of Shankhamukha the king of Nagas.

Shankha Kshetra Yet another region named after Shankha, conch is the present day city called in the Eastern state of Odisha.

Location of Puri in Odisha, Maps Courtesy – Google Maps

Puri is the home to Lord , a form of Lord Vishnu. Different regions of Odisha have been associated with the 4 implements of Lord Vishnu,

1. Puri was named Shankha Kshetra after Panchajanya, the conch of Vishnu.

2. Konark is associated with His Lotus as Padma Kshetra.

3. Bhubaneshwar is Chakra Kshetra after Sudarshan Chakra or His Disc and

4. Jajapura is Gada Kshetra, associated with the mace or Gada called .

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These 4 regions are also known as Odradesha.

Region of present day limits of Puri in Odisha, Maps Courtesy – Google Maps

Region of Puri, shaped like a Conch, Drawn by Pandit Sadashiv Ramasharma

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Shankha Lipi It is not only regions that have been named after Conch. Even a script has been named after Conch.

It is called Shankhalipi or Shell Script and is an ornate script which has design elements that resemble conches. It was used around 5th to 8th Century CE.

Due to the higher effort of its stylized writing, it is opined to have been used to sign or write just names, rather than long and detailed text.

Some of the best examples can be seen on inscriptions in the Udayagiri caves in Madhya Pradesh.

Shankhalipi / Shell Script in Udayagiri Caves of Madhya Pradesh, dating 5th century CE Continuity of Shankha Usage in India

In Art With a vast coastline teeming with marine life, Indian fishermen have netted a good catch of sea shells and conches too, over time. This has also resulted in them developing the art of creating various kinds of beautiful art pieces and trinkets out of these, which can be found at any beach of India.

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Shell Craft

In Worship In the present day world, Shankha is still widely used. In religious worship, like , the Shankha is blown at a specific point of worship and is accompanied by relevant . Shankhabisheka is one mode of worship, where the ritual water is sprinkled on the idol of a deity from a conch.

A Shankha Abhishek

In Ayurveda The Conch shell also has a great significance in Ayurveda. Shankha Bhasma is a medicine in Ayurveda, prepared from Conch shell and is used in treatment of gastritis, abdominal pain, malabsorption syndrome etc. It is a coolant and improves skin color and complexion. Conch shell is used in preparing Ayurveda face packs as well as various medicines.

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Shankha Bhasma

Furthermore, an age old, very effective, Ayurvedic remedy for the common cysts that occur on eyelids, called Chalazions or Meibomian cysts is to rub/grind Shankha on a hard stone surface with water drops, so as to obtain a smooth Shankha paste which is applied on the cyst. This is very similar to the way Sandal paste is ground using Sandal wood. In modern times, Shankha Bhasma itself is used to make such a paste for application.

Chalazion or Common Eyelid Cyst and Remedy with Shankha Paste

Shankha have thus been an integral part of the Ayurvedic system of medicine, which had understood the valuable properties found in Nature, naturally and applied them to cure medical problems naturally too.

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Warding off the , Most ancient civilizations had believed in the phenomenon of “Casting an Evil Eye”, hence the same phrase too for jealousy and ill feeling towards another.

In most Indian languages it is called Dhristi. In Hindi it is also called Nazar after Nazar in Persian meaning eye.

Many objects of day to day use such as Red Chillies, Lemon, Salt, Black Pepper, Red and Green Chilli / Pepper, Black objects such as charcoal, black cloth etc, Alum, etc. are typically hung in front of houses to ward off such bad or the “Evil Eye”.

In Turkey Blue glass objects are hung, called Nazarlik.

In South and Central America, a bunch of Red Chillies and in modern times, art objects in the shape of a bunch of Red and even colourful Chillies are hung to ward off Evil Eye.

Shankha happens to be one such object in many parts of India.

A Nazarlik from A Shankha with An art piece of Red Real Chillies, Lemon Turkeyto ward off other paraphernalia Chilli Bunch from and a black object used Evil Eye to ward off Evil Eye, Mexico to ward off all across India to ward Nazar in South India Evil Eye off Evil Eye

In many Latin American and Mediterranean countries such as , Spain, Portugal, regions that comprised Ancient Gaul, this custom still exists in the form of using a horn shaped object, nearest to the shape of a Chilli, as an to ward off Evil Eye or bad luck. It is called by different names such as Cornicello, Corno etc. meaning Cornetto or cone shaped.

It is interesting that its shape like a cone or horn is very similar to a Conch, Shankha as also the fact that a horn, when blown, produces sound like a Shankha.

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Cornicello in Italy and Mediterranean shaped like a chilli and conch, objects to ward off Evil Eye / Bad Luck

It is beautiful to see here, the blend of the usage of Shankha from the East and Chilli from the West as the shape and object for warding off the Evil Eye.

In Logos and Emblems While it is used to ward off the Evil, Shankha is also used to usher in auspiciousness as well denote the coastal nature of anything.

For instance, Conches find a pride of place in the emblems of the Kerala state, both to indicate its coastal nature as well as a clarion call to the people of the state to enlighten themselves and act rightly”.

Emblems of the Kerala State

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In Bengali marriages The wearing of Conch bangles is a part of the Bengali marriage tradition.

Shankha bangles, , Conch Bangles This tradition can be traced back all the way to the Sindhu-Sarasvati or Indus Valley Civilization period artefacts.

Conches excavated at Harappa

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Skeleton of a Harappan woman, wearing shell bangles, indicating she was married, found at a Harappan burial site with funerary pots above her head.

Bronze statue of woman wearing shell Today’s Kutchi woman wearing shell bangle bangle, excavated from Mohanjodaro, dated from shoulder to wrist 3000 BCE

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The use of Conches have a great antiquity in this land, apparent from the fact that Shankha bangles were excavated at the Harappa and Mohenjodaro sites. That is, Conch bangles have been a tradition in India all the way from over 5000 years ago at the very least. Conch, a Binding Circle of India Conch has tied the different parts of India right from South to North to East to West.

India bound by the Conch

South Rameshwaram in the south used to be and continues to thrive as a centre, skilled in the techniques of cutting shell and making shell artefacts. It is a technique that has not changed from 3000 BCE till date.

Cutting a Shell Bangle

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Ways of working with Conches to make Bangles

East Bengal in the East has been and continues to be a place where Conch finds a place in tradition both as Wedding bangles called Shakah, as well as for blowing during weddings for auspiciousness.

West Kutch in the West has been and continues to display shell bangles in the arms of women, as we have seen.

North West Harappa in the North West had also used shell bangles which lie in the graves of many married women there.

Conches have thus been an important, millennial old binding aspect of Indian tradition circulating around India, thus binding India across geographies and time.

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Shankha - a Form of Wealth

Cowry One of the objects to emerge in the legend of , Churning of the Ocean, was a Shankha known as Kauri Shankha.

A Samudra Manthan Scene Depiction, Swarnabhoomi Airport, Thailand

Kauri / Cowry is a form of sea shell and comes in many sizes, designs and colours.

Money Cowry

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All maritime, coastal civilizations have used such Kauri/Cowry shells as a form of currency. Not just as a local currency but also as an internationally accepted currency in maritime trade across millennia, across continents, across civilizations. These include the ancient maritime Indic civilization, Coastal African, Australian, Polynesian, Micronesian, South East Asian, Chinese, Central and South American civilizations etc. It was a popular international currency then.

It is from these cowry that we have the popular word in India, “Kaudi”, to mean small change.

If we look at currencies, they have been of two main kinds.

1. A form which is of value by itself as it is rare to come by – such as gold, silver, etc.

2. A form which is a counter and stands for the amount of valuable one has – such as cowry, beads, minted coins and notes, digital currency in present day etc.

While counter form of currencies can become obsolete and get replaced, like cowries by coins and coins by notes and notes by digital wallets, the real valuables such as gold, silver etc. do not. They withstand the test of time.

In later days, when cowries lost the position of currency, they came to be used as counters and dice in board games.

Pallanguzhi, a game played using Cowry shells in South India

But due to its position as a currency in earlier days, Cowry continues to be revered and placed in cash counters as a lucky charm.

Measure of Treasure Infact, the terms to denote the measure of wealth were Shankha Nidhi and Padma Nidhi. These measures are depicted as adornments on the 2 doors of the Goddess , the Divinity for wealth.

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Shankha Nidhi Padma Nidhi

Source – Entrance to the shrine of Goddess Perundevi, a form of Lakshmi, in Varadaraja Swamy Temple, Kanchipuram

Varadaraja Swamy temple foreground, Kanchipuram, a more than 1000 year old temple.

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While these 2 terms Shankha and Padma stand for large numbers such as 10 power 13 (10^13) and 10 power 12 (10^12) respectively, it is interesting to note that Shankha as Cowry had also been used a form of currency.

Brand Bharat, Volume 1, Made in India in the Autobiography of India from Bharath Gyan contains more about Shankha Nidhi and the prosperity of India.

Kubera’s Treasure Shankha is one among the 99 treasures held by Lord Kubera, the God of Wealth in India.

Given its multifarious uses and significances, is it any wonder? Nature’s Wonder But like any form of resource, Shankha can be a treasure only so long as it is rare and harvested judiciously – i.e from dead creatures.

The moment, live creatures themselves get harvested indiscriminately for their shells, they will flood the market and cease to become rare. But wait, that is temporarily.

Eventually in the long run, they will even become extinct instead, with no more creatures available to produce these beautiful shells.

Sea Shell Museum, Mahabalipuram Asia’s largest Sea Shell Museum is in India. A personal collection of Sea Shells and conches, ranging from the tiniest to the largest, the India Sea Shells Museum is located at Mahabalipuram, just outside Chennai.

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India Sea Shell Museum, Mahabalipuram

With over 40,000 specimens of rare and unique , this museum is a one man effort, built with the personal collection of Sea shells from all across the world, ranging from the minutest, which need to be seen using a magnifying lens, to one of only 3 of the world’s largest and rarest shells.

World’s Tiniest Conches / Shankha

It is the many decades long collection of Mr.Raja Mohammed, a 53-year old fish merchant by profession, from the illustrious family of Dr.A.P.J.Abdul Kalaam, the former President of India.

Incidentally, Dr.Kalam too hailed from Rameshwaram.

The objective of this collection and museum is to educate people about this wonderful creature and its marvelous creation that has found its way in many ways, into various aspects of our every day life.

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No Doubts After all this, there can be no Shanka (Doubt) that a Shankha (Conch) is one of Nature’s most divine creations.

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