24 OKHAMANDAL MARINE ZOOLOGY PART II 



sort of rhythmical accompaniment when it plays the part of kannagolu or 

 talavinyasa. 1 



In Hindu temples the four daily services take place before dawn, at noon, at sunset, 

 and at 9 or 10 P.M. At these times the Ochchans, the caste entrusted solely in the Tamil 

 country with the duty of chank-blowing in temples, announce the commencement of 

 each service and punctuate the various rites with the drone of their shell according to 

 the customary ritual. Among the Uriyas the corresponding caste of temple servants 

 is that of the Ravulos, whose caste duty is to sound the chank during services in Saivite 

 temples when the god is being taken in procession as also to prepare garlands of flowers 

 for the adornment of the god. Like the Ochchans, they are not usually whole-time 

 servants of the temple, but while the former earn money as musicians at weddings, 

 performing upon a long silver trumpet, the Ravulos make and sell garlands to the laity. 

 The Ochchans never use the chank except in the temples, whereas the Ravulos are em- 

 ployed to sound it at Brahrnans' weddings. It is a rule among the latter that they 

 must possess at least two blowing chanks, lest, losing one, the temple service should 

 suffer in consequence. 



In Bengal, the Ramavat sect of Vaishnavas pay particular attention to the call 

 of the chank. By them all forms of worship except the unceasing repetition of the name 

 Rama or Hari are deemed useless, but in every akhara or monastery of the sect an idol 

 is tended at regular hours to the sound of chank shells and gongs, while offerings of 

 fruit and flowers are presented by the laity (Risley, II, p. 340). 



Chanks to be used as wind instruments are chosen of as large size as procurable, 

 often 8 inches long by 4 inches in diameter. The only preparation they require is to 

 have the extreme apex removed, usually by hammering. No tune properly so called 

 can be played, but the tone is capable of much modulation by the lips, and the long drawn 

 notes as they drone clear and mellow on the evening breeze have a haunting charm that 

 clings sweet and seductive in the memory ; it has a mystic wail perfect in appropriateness 

 to its religious use before the shrines of the gods of a profoundly philosophical creed. 



Sinistral shells whenever possessed by a temple, are usually mounted in handsomely 

 decorated golden settings and used as libation vessels in the service of the god. Whether 

 the god be Siva in the form of a lingam, or Vishnu or other deity represented in 

 anthropomorphic shape, the officiating priests must lave it with water rendered sacred 

 by being poured from the mouth of a chank. 2 On certain auspicious days cow's milk 

 is used for libations in lieu of water. And if the doubly sacred sinistral chank is not 

 possessed by the temple, then a choice example of the ordinary form must be used. 



In family devotions the chank is also employed as a libation vessel by strictly 

 devout Brahmans, both Saivites and Vaishnavites. Daily before the mid-day meal 



1 Day, "Music and Musical Instruments of S. India and the Deccan," 1891. 



- A Tamil proverb says : " If you pour water into a chank it becomes holy water ; if you pour it 

 into a pot, it remains merely water." 



