137 



In Thibet the call of the chank is amono-st the most 

 familiar sounds to be heard in the monasteries and tem- 

 ples 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 Shigatse — 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 con- 

 vent ; 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 distribu- 

 tion 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. H, p. 19) a cave inhabited by a hermit reputed to 

 be one hundred years old, who passed his days crouch- 

 ing 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 tea- 

 pots 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 prominently among the 

 musical instruments employed to lend eclat to the 

 periodic procession [perakera) of the tooth-relic at 

 Kandy. 



{b) Branding. 



All Sri Vaishnavite Brahmans, irrespective of profes- 

 sion, are expected to undergo a ceremony of initiation 



