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losing one, the temple service should suffer in con- 
sequence. 
In Bengal, the Ramavat sect of Vaishnavas pay 
particular attention to the callof the chank. By them all 
forms of worship, except the unceasing repetition of 
the name Rama or Hari are deemed useless, but in 
every akhara or monastery of the sect an idol is tended 
at regular hours to the sound of chank shells and gongs, 
while offerings of flowers and fruit are presented by 
the laity (Risley, II., 340). 
Chanks to be used as wind instruments are chosen of 
as large size as procurable, often 8 inches long by 4 
inches in diameter. The only preparation they require 
is to have the extreme apex removed, usually by hammer- 
ing. No tune properly so called can be played, but the 
tone is capable of much modulation by the lips and the 
long drawn notes as they drone clear and mellow on the 
evening breeze have.a haunting charm that clings sweet 
and seductive in the memory; it has a mystic wail 
perfect in appropriateness to its religious use before the 
shrines of the gods of a profoundly philosophical creed. 
Sinistral shells whenever possessed by a temple, are 
usually mounted in handsomely decorated golden 
settings and used as libation vessels in the service of the 
god. Whether the god be Siva in the form of a lingam, 
or Vishnu or other deity represented in anthropomorphic 
shape, the officiating priests must lave it with water 
rendered sacred by being poured from the mouth of a 
chank.* On certain auspicious days cow’s milk is used 
for libations in lieu of water. And if the doubly sacred 
sinistral chank is not possessed by the temple, then a 
choice example of the ordinary form must be used. 
In family devotions the chank is also employed as a 
libation vessel by strictly devout Brahmans, both Sai- 
vites and Vaishnavites. Daily before the mid-day meal 
the Brahman head of the family, after taking his bath, 
prostrates himself before the family shrine and then 
chanting some hymns from the Vedas, he pours water 
over the fmage oi the deity from the mouth of a 
chank-shell. Then he dresses the god and commences 
his prayers. 
* A Tamil proverb says :—“ If you pour water into a chank, it becomes holy 
water; if you pour it into a pot, it remains merely water.” 
