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Both the States of Travancore and Cochin also 

 employ the chank in their recently designed armorial 

 bearings. In the case of Travancore, the arms described 

 in heraldic terms consist of : — Argent, on a fesse azure, 

 three reversed (sinistral) chank-shells or ; Crest — a sea- 

 horse proper. Motto — Dharnios7nat Ktdadevatam. In 

 Cochin the shield bears more numerous devices ; in 

 addition to a left-handed chank, a palanquin, a brass 

 lamp and an umbrella are depicted, with elephant sup- 

 porters as in the case of Travancore. In all cases where 

 these States use the chank symbol, it is necessary to note 

 that it should occur in the abnormal sinistral or reversed 

 form, this being the Royal and Sacred Chank — the 

 Chank of Vishnu. 



When the Maharaja of Travancore performs Utlab- 

 haram, a coronation ceremony, wherein he weighs himself 

 in scales against gold, special gold coins are struck called 

 tulabhara kasu {cf. our Maundy money). On one side a 

 figure of a chank shell appears, on the other the legend 

 " Sri Padmanabha " in Malayalam characters. After 

 the ceremony these coins are distributed among the 

 Brahmans who have assembled from all parts of the 

 country. 



{n) Chank lime. 



A minor use to which chank-shells are put in the 

 coastal districts where they occur, and also in those 

 localities in Bengal where bangle factories exist, is to 

 calcine these in kilns. The lime so produced is esteemed 

 the best quality obtainable in India, fully equal to, if not 

 better than, that obtained by burning pearl oyster shells. 

 The auspicious nature of the shell adds further value to 

 the product, and when a temple or shrine or specially fine 

 newly built house has to be whitewashed, chank lime is 

 greatly sought after for this purpose in the Tamil 

 districts. I have even received petitions praying that 

 permission be granted for the collection of chanks for 

 this purpose. 



At the present day the fact that almost all the pro- 

 duce of the South Indian chank fisheries is exported to 

 Bengal, makes it very difficult to obtain chank lime — the 

 shells are too valuable to calcine. That it was not so 

 in former times, in some cases at least, is to be seen if 



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