^3 



As the chank is a religious symbol both to Hindus 

 and to Buddhists, we may reasonably conclude that the 

 remains of chank bangles found in Valabhipur were made 

 for the use of the women of the town and neighbourhood 

 not later than the eighth century. The trade must have 

 been long established at that time to judge by the excel- 

 lence of the work turned out, which fully equals that of 

 average Bengal workmanship of the present day. 



Takino- all facts into consideration I am inclined to 

 date the majority of the bangle fragments found in the 

 Kathiawar and Gujarat sites as roughly contemporary 

 with the Valabhipur specimens or at most not antedat- 

 ing them by more than 300 to 400 years. 



To date the Deccan chank bangle factories is more 

 difficult ; one outstanding fact is the simplicity of all the 

 patterns. The great majority are devoid of ornament 

 save for a boss roughly carved at one side. This 

 plainness of design would seem to bespeak less skill on 

 the part of the Deccan workman than on that of his 

 fellow craftsman in Gujarat. If that be the explanation, 

 and if it be not due to lack of taste or of the means to pay 

 for good work on the part of the buyers, then w^e may 

 reasonably date the majority of these fragments back to 

 the first few centuries before or after the beginning of the 

 Christian era. The presence among the pottery mixed 

 with the bangle fragments found near Srinivaspur in 

 Mysore of a flat sherd similar in pattern to one found with 

 thel Buddhist remains at Gudivada in Kistna district 

 is noteworthy as lending further countenance to this 

 conclusion. 



(ct) The finds made by Mr. Bruce Foote argue two 

 great centres of chank-bangle manufacture and usage 

 apart from that in the extreme south of the Madras 

 Presidency, namely, one in the Southern Deccan and the 

 other round the shores of the Gulf of Cambay. It is 

 most probable that other centres of the industry did exist, 

 but at present there is no direct evidence to this effect. 

 For instance it is not likely that an industry which was 

 firmly established in Eastern Bengal at the time of the 

 arrival of the Portuguese in India * and of Tavernier's 

 travels in the seventeenth century, and which continues 



* Garcia daOrta writing in the sixteenth century states that the chank was then 

 an article of importance in the Bengal trade, thoiigh less vahiable than formerly . 



