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pass over it, usually touching it, and this will prevent 
misfortune happening to him. 
(ce) HARVEST RITES. 
In Malabar, at the ceremony called Vzra, the bringing 
in of the first fruits, on the morning of the ceremony 
the priest comes forth from the local temple, preceded 
by a man blowing a conch. This is the signal for the 
whole village, and every household then sends out a 
male member, duly purified by a bath and copiously 
smeared with ashes, to the fields to gather some ears of 
paddy. (Logan, Manual of Malabar, Madras, 1887). 
Similarly in Siam, the commencement of the plough- 
ing season 1s associated with religious ceremonies to the 
accompaniment of conch music. This ploughing fes- 
tival or Rek-xa occurs in the sixth month of the Siamese 
year ; the principal figure is the Minister of Agriculture 
who acts nowadays in place of the King. Surrounded 
by the symbols of the rank to which he has been exalted, 
the Minister is borne ina palanquin to the field where 
the ground is tobe broken. A company of yellow-robed 
priests act as escort, blowing loud blasts on chank 
shells as they go. 
After the consecration ofthe bullocks to be used, the 
Minister ploughs part of a field, while ladies of the 
Royal household sow the ground thus broken up with 
hallowed paddy. 
(7) MarRIAGE CEREMONIES. 
The chank has important but variable functions to 
perform at weddings among all Hindu non-Brahman 
castes in the districts of the south of India, where this 
shell is blown by the barber (ambattan) particularly at or 
immediately after the tying of the ¢a/z or marriage badge 
around the bride’s neck ; the bridal couple usually occupy 
a raised platform, and round and round this the barber 
walks while blowing his chank. In Bengal this custom 
of chank-blowing during weddings is even more general ; 
a common formula which runs 
“Ganga ka pani samundra ki sank 
Bar kanya jag jag anand” 
(May Ganges water and sea-chank betide 
Enduring bliss to bridegroom and _ bride) 
