HORNELL THE INDIAN CONCH 25 



the Brahman head of the family, after taking his bath, prostrates himself before the family 

 shrine and then, chanting some hymns from the Vedas, pours water over the image 

 of the deity from the mouth of a chank shell. Then he dresses the god and commences 

 his prayers. 



In Thibet the call of the chank is amongst the most familiar sounds to be heard in 

 the monasteries and temples of the Lamaistic faith. The writings of travellers in that 

 most priest-ridden of countries, contain frequent mention of the custom. Sven Hedin 

 for example, when describing the opening ceremonies of the Losar or new year festival 

 which he saw in the great monastery of Tashilunpo in Shigatze the seat of the Tashi 

 Lama, says : " Suddenly from the uppermost platforms on the roof ring out deep, long 

 drawn-out blasts of horns over the country ; a couple of monks show themselves against 

 the sky ; they blow on singular sea-shells, producing a penetrating sound, which is 

 echoed back in shrill and yet heavy tones from the fissured rocks behind the convent : 

 they summon the Gelugpa, the brotherhood of yellow monks, to the festival." 



Tea-drinking among the Lamas must never be missed ; the monks partake of it even 

 in the midst of the most important ceremonies, and to prevent the terrible misfortune 

 of a brother being too late for any distribution of tea, the departure of the novices from 

 the kitchen bearing their loads of hot tea in large copper vessels on their shoulders, 

 is signalled to all in the various halls and cells by a loud call upon a chank-horn from 

 the temple roof. 



Sven Hedin also describes (" Trans-Himalaya," Vol. II, p. 19) a cave inhabited by 

 a hermit reputed to be one hundred years old, who passed his days crouching in a niche 

 in the wall continually saying his prayers and occasionally blowing a faint blast on a 

 chank. 



And when a monk, no longer able to answer the shell's call to gather with his brethren 

 round the teapots and the bowls of tsamba, passes quietly away, the same sound summons 

 those who remain to attend his funeral mass. 



In the purer Buddhism of Ceylon the chank cult also finds place, and figures pro- 

 minently among the imisical instruments employed to lend eclat to the periodic procession 

 (perahera) of the tooth relic at Kandy. 



(b) BRANDING. 



All Sri Vaishnavite Brahmans, irrespective of profession, are expected to undergo 

 a ceremony of initiation into Vaishnavism after the Upanayanam ceremony of invest- 

 ment with the sacred thread, in the belief that it is the duty of all of their creed to carry 

 throughout life a memorial of their god upon their person. To effect this, resort is 

 had to branding with heated copper seals made in the conventional form of the various 

 symbols of Vishnu. 



Members of this sect are not compelled to undergo this ordeal more than once 



