possessed by the Shank Narayan temple is a small 

 elongated specimen offered at the shrine some twenty 

 years ago by a Bhatia from Zanzibar ; that of the Lakshmi 

 temple is a short broad one of small size with handsome 

 arabesque ornamentation on the mounting — it has been 

 in the possession of the temple since Samvat 1890 (A.D. 

 1833). At Benares, temple treasures include similar 

 examples, while in the south of India, where opportu- 

 nities to obtain these shells are greater, many of the fine 

 temples which form the architectural jewels of that devout 

 land possess one or more. The chief temples at Rames- 

 waram, Chidambaram and Madura may be instanced. 



It is remarkable also and indicative that this custom 

 has not originated with modern Hinduism, that sinistral 

 chanks are objects of adoration among northern Bud- 

 dhists. Sarat Chandra Das, the intrepid survey officer 

 who spent some perilous years in Thibet, mentions 

 ("Journey to Lhasa," London, 1902), that in the Sakya 

 mona^stery lying to the south-west of Shigatze, there is 

 preserved in the temple a chank of this rare form. Its 

 history is invested with more than ordinary interest, for 

 the monastic records state that it was a present from 

 Kublai Khan, the great Tartar conqueror of China and 

 patron of the Polos, to Phagpa, a hierarch of Sakya, whom 

 Kublai made ruler of Thibet in the second half of the 

 thirteenth century. Sarat Chandra Das mentions that 

 this famous shell is blown by the lamas only when the 

 request is accompanied by a present of seven ounces of 

 silver, but to have it blown " is held to be an act of 

 great merit." 



In Thibet these left-handed chanks are called Va 

 chyil ciung-kar and in Chinese Yu hsimn pai-lei. The 

 people of both countries consider such shells as treasures 

 of inestimable value. In 1867, one was known to be 

 kept at Fuchu by the Ti-tuh (Peking Gazette, February 

 23rd, 1867) and one at Lhassa (" Journey to Lhasa," ut 

 supra, p. 242, footnote). 



At one time the value of these shells is said to have 

 been assessed at their weight in gold and this statement 

 is probably correct. To-day they are less valuable and 

 small and imperfect ones occasionally change hands in 

 the north of Ceylon at Rs. 60 to Rs. 90 each (say £j\ 

 to ^6) ; such shells are usually sub-fossil ones found 

 9-A 



