137 
In Thibet the call of the chank.is amongst the most 
familiar sounds to be heard in the monasteries and tem- 
ples of the Lamaistic faith. The writings of travellers 
in that most priest-ridden of countries, contain frequent 
mention of the custom. Sven Hedin, for example, when 
describing the opening ceremonies of the Losar or new 
year festival which he saw in the great monastery of 
Tashilunpo in Shigatse—the seat of the Tashi Lama, 
says :-—“ Suddenly from the uppermost platforms on the 
roof ring out deep, long-drawn-out blasts of horns over 
the country ; a couple of monks show themselves against 
the sky ; they blow on singular sea-shells, producing a 
penetrating sound, which is echoed back in shrill and 
yet heavy tones from the fissured rocks behind the con- 
vent ; they summon the Gelugpa, the brotherhood of 
yellow monks, to the festival.” 
Tea-drinking among the Lamas must never be 
missed ; the monks partake of it even in the midst of the 
most important ceremonies, and to prevent the terrible 
misfortune of a brother being too late for any distribu- 
tion of tea, the departure of the novices from the 
kitchen bearing their loads of hot tea in large copper 
vessels on their shoulders, is signalled to all in the 
various halls and cells by a loud call upon a chank-horn 
from the temple roof, 
Sven Hedin also describes (‘‘ Trans—Himalaya,” 
Vol. II, p. 19) a cave inhabited by a hermit reputed to 
be one hundred years old, who passed his days crouch- 
ing in a niche in the wall continually saying his prayers 
and occasionally blowing a faint blast on a chank. 
And when a monk, no longer able to answer the 
shell’s call to gather with his brethren round the tea- 
pots and the bowls of tsamba, passes quietly away, the 
same sound summons those who remain to attend his 
funeral mass. 
In the purer Buddhism of Ceylon the chank cult 
also finds place, and figures prominently among the 
musical instruments employed to lend eclat to the 
periodic procession (ferahera) of the tooth-relic at 
Kandy. 
(6) BRANDING. 
All Sri Vaishnavite Brahmans, irrespective of profes- 
sion, are expected to undergo a ceremony of initiation 
