167 
Both the States of Travancore and Cochin also 
employ the chank in their recently designed armorial 
bearings. Inthe case of Travancore, the arms described 
in heraldic terms consist of :—Argent, on a fesse azure, 
three reversed (sinistral) chank-shells or ; Crest—a sea- 
horse proper. Motto—Dharmosmat Kuladevatam. In 
Cochin the shield bears more numerous devices: in 
addition to a left-handed chank, a palanquin, a brass 
lamp and an umbrella are depicted, with elephant sup- 
porters as in the case of Travancore. Inallcases where 
these States use the chank symbol, it is necessary to note 
that it should occur in the abnormal sinistral or reversed 
form, this being the Royal and Sacred Chank—the 
Chank of Vishnu. 
Whenthe Maharaja of Travancore performs ¢z/ad- 
haram, a coronation ceremony, wherein he weighs himself 
in scales against gold, special gold coins are struck called 
tulabhara kasu (cf. our Maundy money). On one sidea 
figure of a chank shell appears, on the other the legend 
“Sri Padmanabha” in Malayalam characters. After 
the ceremony these coins are distributed among the 
Brahmans who have assembled from all parts of the 
country. 
(z) CHANK LIME. 
A minor use to which chank-shells are put in the 
coastal districts where they occur, and also in those 
localities in Bengal where bangle factories exist, is to 
calcine these in kilns. The lime so produced is esteemed 
the best quality obtainable in India, fully equal to, if not 
better than, that obtained by burning pearl oyster shells. 
The auspicious nature of the shell adds further value to 
the product, and when a temple or shrine or specially fine 
newly built house has to be whitewashed, chank lime is 
greatly sought after for this purpose in the Tamil 
districts. I have even received petitions praying that 
permission be granted for the collection of chanks for 
this purpose. 
At the present day the fact that almost all the pro- 
duce of the South Indian chank fisheries is exported to 
Bengal, makes it very difficult to obtain chank lime—the 
shells are too valuable to calcine. That it was not so 
in former times, in some cases at least, is.to be seen if 
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