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Always is Krishna's chank represented as a sinistral 
abnormality, and legend pictures to the mind of the 
devout Hindu every shell of this rare torm when alive 
as a marvellous production receiving the homage of 
thousands of chanks of ordinary form, which crowd 
around it on all sides. Another myth is related by 
Baldzeus, the chaplain to the Dutch forces which wrested 
Ceylon from the Portuguese, to the effect that Garuda, 
thes eagle vehicle ‘or attendant (almost certainly the 
hawk-headed deity of Assyria) of Vishnu flew in all 
haste to Brahma ana brought to wWrishna “the chianko 
or kinkhorn twisted to the right.” * Vishnu derives 
several of his alternative names from his chank symbol, 
as Chankapani, the ‘‘chank-armed,” and Chankamenthi, 
the ““chank-bearer. ’ 
Krishna, when represented as a herdsman under 
the form of Govinda or Gopala, usually bears a conch 
in his hand and possibly the origin of this may be 
sought in the use a herdsman may make of it to call 
together his scattered herd just as the shepherds of 
Corsica and Sardinia at the present day use a great 
Triton shell (7 7ctontum noduliferum) for a like purpose. 
A curious and most significant fact is that the twenty- 
second Tirthankar of the Jains, Nemi or Nemnat’h, 
who, legend says, was the son of King Samudravijaya of 
the race of Harivansa and a cousin to Krishna, has a 
conch as his emblem and is represented in Jain statues 
as being of a black colour. The black image of Nemi 
in the Nemnath temple on Mount Girnar in Kathiawar 
is a well-known example. The dark hue under which 
Vishnu and Krishna are always represented by Hindus | 
and the black colour of his cousin Nemi, the Jain 
Tirthankar, go far to show that these gods and teachers 
belonged not to the Aryan race but to nations of 
Dravidian origin in the forefront of the earliest indigen- 
ous civilization in North India or Hindustan. With 
them in particular, is the conch most definitely associ- 
ated; there is strong presumption on this and other 
grounds alee referred to, to believe that it was the 
* With the contradiction which exists between East and West in so many 
matters, the abnormal twist in these shells is termed left-handed or sinistral by 
Kuropeans, whereas Indians term it right-handed. They view it from the mouth 
end, we from the apex and accordingly confusion is frequent in conversation on 
this subject with Indians, 
