MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN NO. 7. THE SACRED CHANK OF INDIA i^y^.-'y^>j^^i^^^^^ AGENTS FOR THE SALE OF MADRAS GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS. IN INDIA. R. Cambkat <fe Co., Calcnttft. CoMBRiDGB & Co., Madras. E. M. GOPALAKRISHNA KoNE, PaduiiKintapam, :\l!i(lnr:i. HiGGiNBOTHAM & Co., Mount Roafi, Madras. V. Kalyanarama Iyer & Co., Esplanade, Miidras. G. C. LoGANADHAM BeotHEES, Madras. S. MuETHT & Co., Kapalee Press, Madras. G. A. Natesan & Co., Madras. Nazaib Kanun Hind Pekss, Allahabad, P. R. Rama Itae & Co., Madras. D. B. Taraporevala Sons & Co., l^ombay. Tb.mple & Co., Georgetown, Madras. Thackee & Co. (Linaited), Bombay. Thacker, Spink & Co., Calcutta. THOMPSOir & Co., Madras. IN ENGLAND. B. H. BiACKWELL, BO and 51, Broad Street, Oxford. Constable & Co., 10, Orange Street, Leicester Square, London, W.C. DKiGniON, B^LL & Co., Cambridge. T. FisHEU TTnwin, 1, Adelphi Terrace, London, AV.C. Geindlat & Co., 64, Parliament Street, London, S.W. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubnkr & Co., 68-74, Carter Lane, London, K.C. Henet S. King & Co., CB, Comhill, London, E.C. P. S. King & Son, 2 and 4, Great Smith Street, Westminster, London, S.W. LuzAC & Co., 46, Great Russell Street, London, W.C, B. Qtaeitch, 1), Grafton Street, New Bond Street, London, W. W. Thackkr & Co., 2, Creed Lane, London, E.C. ON THE CONTINENT FRIEDlanuer & SdllN, 11, CarUtrasKe, Berlin. Otto UaREassowitz, Leipzig. Ka;!L W. Hiehsemann, Leipzig. Kbnbst Lkeoux, 28, Rue Bonaparte, Paris. MaRI'inds NiJHoFF, The Hague, Holland. .1 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN No. 7. Plate I (Frontispifxe). BY A HANDSOME SINISTRAL CllANK {Tllfbuullil j \ nn/l) POSSESSED THE SaTYA BhAMAJI TEMPLE, BET, KATHIAWAR. MADRAS FISHERIES BUREAU BULLETIN No. 7. THE SACRED CHANK OF INDIA: A MONOGRAPH OF THE INDIAN CONCH TURBINELLA PYRUM) BY JAMES HORNELL, f.l.s., Superintendent of Pearl and Chunk Fisheries to tlie Government of Madras. ILLUSTRATED WITH 18 PLATES. MADRAS: PRINTED BY THE SUPERINTENDENT, GOVERNMENT PRESS. [Price, 2 rupees.'] I9i4. [3 shillings] ^3^7 CONTENTS. PAGE Introductory 1 I.—The Chank Fisheries of India and Ceylon— (1) TiNNEVELLY 3 (2) Ramnad 29 34 (3) The Carnatic Coast (a) Tanjore District 34 •• 35 (b) South Arcot ... (4) Travancore ... 36 (5) Kathiawar 37 (6) Ceylon 38 II.—The Chank Bangle Industry- Introduction •+! (1) Its antiquity— (rt) In the TiNNEVELLY District 42 In the and Kathiawar ... 47 (6) Deccan, Gujarat — (2) Its Present Condition and Methods (a) Preliminary 68 (b) Present Centres of Trade 69 (c) Volume and Importance of the Trade ... 77 {d) The Trade Varieties of the Shells employed. 86 (c) Details of Bangle Manufacture 91 (0 The Economic Position of the Trade 99 (g) The Castes and Tribes who use Chank Bangles— (1) In Northern India 101 (2) In the Madras Presidency 110 III. —The Role played by the Chank in Indian Religion and Life— (1) Legendary and Historical 117 (2) Present Day Uses— («) In Religious Ceremonial 130 (6) Branding and Tatooing 137 (c) The Mendicant's Conch 142 {d) Dedication of Temples .\nd Houses 142 (e) Harvest Rites 144 (0 Marriage Ceremonies 144 (g) Death Ceremonies 148 (h) Totems 149 (i) Evil-eye Superstitions 150 (;') Proverps 155 (fe) Personal Adornment 157 (I) Feeding Spouts 165 (m) As Currency and in Armorial Bearings ... 165 IV CONTENTS. PAGE Lime-making ... (n) 167 (o)jMedicine 168 Food (p) 171 Incense Sticks iq) 171 Assembly Calls (r) 172 IV.—Appendix— 1. Table of Yearly Revenue derived from the Tinne- VELLV Pearl and Chank Fisheries for the past 112 YEARS 173 2. Details of the Annual Results of the Tinnevelly Chank Fishery from 1876 to 1913 176 3. Sale Conditions governing Tenders for the Produce of the Tinnevelly Chank Fishery 177 4. Statement of Revenue derived from the Ramnad Chank Fishery since 1880 179 5. Statement of Revenue derived from the Sivaganga Chank Fishery since 1886 179 6. Statement of Revenue derived from the Tanjoke Chank Fishery since the Cession of the District IN 1799 ISO refp:rences. this The Iwo most frct|uently (luoted works in monograph bein<.'& ThurstoS', Ei'GAR. —"The Castes and Tribes of South India," 7 Vols. Madras, 1909, and KisLKY, IL II.—" The Tribes and Castes of Bengal," 2 Vols, 1891, references thereto are aljbreviated to the author's name ftjllowed by the therein number of the volume and the page quoted, (,.^,^, Thurston, II. 21. EXPLANATION OF PLATES. PLATE I (FRONTISPIECE). A handsome sinistral chank (X'alnminiri sankhii) in the Satya Bhaniaji tem]ile, Bet, Kathiawar. PLATE II. — — FiGURK I. —A typical Indian chank life appearance central type. Fioi;re 2. — Elongate form from the Andaman Islands, from a specimen in the Indian IMusemn, Calcutta. On either side of the adult is an immature shell showing the protoconch persisting at the apex. PLATE III. Fragments of ancient chank bangles found at an old village site at Ambavalli, Amreli Prant, Kathiawar. (Now in the Foote Collection, Madras Central Museum.) PLATE IV. Fragments of ancient chank bangles found at various sites in Gujarat, Kathiawar and Bellary (Foote Collection, Madras Museum). No. 1516 is from Sandur- ; from near Surat ; from vallam, Bellary 3066 Kamrej, 3310 Mahuri, \'ijapur from from and Taluk, Baroda ; 3615 Babapur; 3623 Sonnaria, 3493 from Yalabipur—the last three being in Kathiawar. PLATE V. shell in the Foote Madras Museum Ancient ornaments, etc., Collection, ; No. 3622 is a circle of chank shell from Kathiawar working Ambavalli, ; No. 3428, a bangle fragment from Damnagar Taluk, Kathiawar; No. 3310-8, fragment of Baroda narrow chiiri chank bangle, Wadnagar, ; No. 3310-5, carved nose ornament of chank shell, Mahuri, Baroda; No. 234, Mango scraper made from Unio (fresh- water mussel), from Narsipur Sangam, M3'sore. The re- mainder are beads made from Cyprtea, Trochus, Natica, Nerita and Paludina shells. PLATE VI. Figure I. —Chank shell waste from ancient bangle-factory sites at Korkai, Kayal and Tuticorin (two upper rows) compared with modern waste pieces from Dacca (bottom row, where a working section is also shown). Figure 2. — Sectioning chank shells in a Dacca workshop. PLATE Vn. Figure i. —Sharpening a chank saw, Dacca. Figure 2. —Breaking away the remains of the septum from a sawn chank circle (working section). PLATE VIII. Figure i. — Rubbing down the inner surface of a working section, Dinajpur, Bengal. Figure 2. —Forming a simple ridge pattern by rubbing down the sections on a stone, Rangpur, Bengal. VIII EXPLANATION OF PLATES. PLATE IX. Fkjure I. — an incised — Carving pallern, Rangpur. Figure 2. Sharpening an engraving saw, Dinajpnr. PLATE X. — Figure i, Rubbing down Cinnabar (Ilingol) to colour lacquer red, Dinajjiur. Figure 2. —Lacquering marriage bangles, Dinaj])ur. PLATE XL Figure i. —Rest used when off an inlaid — finishing lacfpier pattern, Dinajinir. Figure 2. Making children's feeding spouts from chank shells, Karimanal, near Pulicat (Madras). PLATE XIL A selection of chank-bangle patterns current in Bengal at the present lime. Figs. A to L PLATE Xril. Pattern reconstruction of some of the ancient bangles in the Foote Collection • for comparison with modern patterns on Plate XIL PLATE XIV. Some further pattern reconstructions of ancient bangles in the Foote Collection. PLATE XV. Figures i and 2. — Sinistral chanks (Valampuri sankhu) respectively in ihc Shank Narayan and Lakshmi Temples, Bel, Kathiawar. PLATE XVI. — sinistral i<i Figures i and 2. Gold-mounted chanks belonging the Puttige mutt, South Canani. Udipi, — Pigitke 3. Siher-mounted sinistral chank from Jaffna, C'cylun. PLATE XVII Figure i. —A chank, handsomely mounted in ijrass, used in the temple services, Udipi, South Canara. Figure 2. —A Malayali pilgrim to the Falni shrine in Madura district. He carries and blows a chank to attract attention, together with an arch- of feathers. The belt he shaped kavadi and bunch peacock wears was ]ire- sented to him by the temple authorities as a mark of esteem for several pilgrimages completed. PLATE XV II I. Figure i.^Grouj) of Kalladi Cherumans wearing necklaces of so-called chank- rings. Figure 2. — Chank-fishing canoes on the beach at Tuticorin. THE SACRED CHANK OF INDIA BY JAMES HORNELL. INTRODUCTORY. Until the present time no monographic account has been of attempted the Sacred Chank or Conch {Turbi- neIIa Linn in its pyru77i, ) intricate and intimate relation- to ahnost of Hindu Hfe too ship every phase ; scanty are the casual references scattered through the immense mass of literature that attempts to chronicle and explain the g'rowth of present-day Indian customs. The collec- tion and co-ordination of the material now presented to the reader has been a task of no character and I am light deeply conscious of the incompleteness of the whole, of the many gaps I am unable to fill up and of how inade- is quate my scholarship to deal with certain aspects of the in a subject really satisfactory manner. However we are well aware how often the foolhardy step in where fear to tread angels and as I have occasionally seen successful eminently resuhs attend on such precipitate recklessness I trust that at least a modicum of success crown the I may attempt make in the following pages to a open up by-path in the life and history of the Indian world. Almost every day some new fact comes to my knowledge emphasizing the large place in the ordinary life of the people taken by this shell, but as other enquiries call for my attention, with some reluctance I feel compelled to cry a halt and to present the material collected in already the best form I am able to cast it, leaving for others the task of rounding the corners and filling in interstices. Several interesting problems remain partly or wholly unsolved. Among others may be mentioned {a) the reasons for the cessation and disappearance of the chank bangle industry from the South of India, the Deccan, the Gujarat and Kathiawar, (d) the causes which made chank fisheries so profitable in the early years of the nineteenth century, and (c) the question whether the use of chank baneles amono- a few sections of several castes in South India is in the nature of a survival of a once universal custom or whether it had primarily a totemistic of significance.