63 
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. 
Taking 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. Ifthat 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 we 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 
the: Buddhist remains at Gudivada in Kistna district 
is noteworthy as lending further countenance to this 
conclusion. 
(d) 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 thereis 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 da Orta writing in the sixteenth century states that the chank was then 
an article of importance in the Bengal trade, though less valuable than formerly, 
