157 



This is much less obscure in application than the 

 proverb which precedes it ; lavish offerinos to the Gods 

 do not wipe away a sin. 



This reads literally, " a chank broken ; mud dissolved " 

 signifying the impossibility of mending some happenings. 



4419. 3=!E1(^ (m,^^ih ^mai is^ su/ni^ih, 



" The chank's breech and the mendicant's mouth ", a 

 saying applied to things in frequent contact or associa- 

 tion. 



" Though you burn a chank, its whiteness is not 

 diminished." 



Lastly we have : 



^ s Qev eu 1 r- ^ ^ fT (Si^ ^li ^^ihj ^' lL.ul.iiQ ev eii ir /t ,3' ^ n &< ^ sssr 



" If you pour (water) into a chank (it becomes) holy 

 water; if you pour (it) into a pot (it is merely) water." 



{k) For Personal Adornment. 



In personal adornment, and apart from any uses 

 it is put to in the form of amulets, the chank-shell is 

 employed principally as the crude material wherefrom 

 beautiful bracelets of many patterns are made for use in 

 Bengal and the adjoining provinces ; subsidiary uses to 

 which it is put is to fashion from it finger rings, necklaces, 

 disc ornaments for headdresses and caps, and as a recent 

 addition, coat and dress buttons. 



The bangle industry in all phases is treated separately 

 and at full length in Section II, to which the reader is 

 referred for all details. 



Rings actually made from chank-shell are not manu- 

 factured in any quantity ; their place is taken largely by 

 those sawn from a much smaller shell, a species of 

 Siroinbus, found on the Ramnad coast ot" the Gulf of 

 Mannar. So far as I can learn, the industry is localized 

 at Kilakarai. a seaport of Ramnad inhabited largely by 

 Muhammadan (Labbai) fishermen, pearl-fishers and 

 chank-divers. The rings are usually exported with a 

 minimum of finish ; only the rouohness of the edo-e is 

 rubbed off and nearly always the chestnut stippling 



