120 
Here too we hear for the first time the name Pan- 
chajanya given to the conch of Krishna, King of the 
Yadavas, who had espoused the Pandavan cause. 
Around this famous shell many legends have gathered 
and now we see it held on high in most figures of Vishnu, 
who is considered by Hindus to have been re-incarnated 
in Krishna, the wise and good king of the Yadavas. Ac- 
cording to one legend Panchajanya was originally the 
shell home of a terrible marine demon, Panchajana, so 
named as he was a foe to the five kinds of beings (axa), 
to wit, gods, men, gandharvas, serpents and ghosts or 
non-incorporated spirits. Panchajana lived on the sea 
bottom and at last filled the measure of his misdeeds by 
seizing the son of Sandipani, who had taught Krishna 
the use of arms. The God, tearless of consequences, 
rushed to the help of the child assuming the form of a 
fish and after a terrible struggle vanquished the demon 
and brought away his shell asa trophy, since accounted 
one of the emblems of Vishnu and Krishna. 
Tod, the author of the famous Annals of Rajasthan, 
inhis “Travels in Western India” published 1839, in 
describing his visit to Dwarka and its neighbourhood 
gives a variant of this story and as the passage is most 
interesting no apology is needed for its reproduction in 
full. Under date January 1, 1823, he writes, ‘‘ Crossed 
over to the Pirates’ isle, emphatically called Bate, or 
‘the island,’ but in the classic traditions of the Hindu, 
Sankhodwara, or ‘the door of the shell,’ one of the most 
sacred spots of his faith. It was here that Crishna * or 
Kanya acted the part of the Pythian Apollo, and 
redeemed the sacred books, slaying his hydra foe, 
Takshac, who had purloined and concealed them in 
one of those gigantic shells whence the island has 
its name. The whole history of Kanya, or Crishna, 
who assumed the form of Vishnu, is allegorical, but 
neither devoid of interest nor incapable of solution. 
There is no part of their mythology more easy of illus- 
tration than this, which is allusive to the sectarian war- 
fare carried on at this period between the new sect of 
* Tod notes “ Kanya, or Vishnu, resembles the sun-god of the Egyptians in 
name as well as symbols. Kan was one name of the sun in Egypt, and his 
zagle-head is a well-known type.” With regard to the extract given in the text, 
aes to be remembered that Tod’s mythological explanations are not always 
reliable. ; 
