136 



losing one, the temple service should suffer in con- 

 sequence. 



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 flowers and fruit are presented by 

 the laity (Risley, II., 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 hammer- 

 ing. 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.* 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 Sai- 

 vites and Vaishnavites. Daily before the mid-day meal 

 the Brahman head of the family, after taking his bath, 

 prostrates himself before the family shrine and then 

 chanting some hymns from the Vedas, he pours water 

 over the fmage oi the deity from the mouth of a 

 chank-shell. Then he dresses the god and commences 

 his prayers. 



* 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." 



