36 Shells as evidence of the Migrations. 
devout to worship ; such are among the general explana- 
tions given for its employment, but some ethnologists hold 
that the innate and primitive significance of the use of the 
blowing chank in temple worship is to scare away hostile 
and evil-working spirits. This is a reasonable belief as 
there is little or no doubt that the chank was used origin- 
ally as a horn or trumpet by tribes holding animistic 
beliefs prior to the development of the Brahman religion, 
which appears to have adopted the use of the chank in 
religious ceremonies together with many other rites from 
the devil-fearing tribes who gradually came into the fold 
of the new and higher religious belief.” ” 
In Bengal it is customary to keep blowing-chanks in 
the houses of the better class people for use in family 
worship, and during eclipses and earthquakes these shells 
are blown continuously till the eclipse or earthquake is 
over.” 
Unlike the sinistral shells, which are usually mounted 
in handsomely decorated golden settings, the temple 
conchs are usually without any ornamentation, but the 
Udipi temple owns one very beautifully mounted in brass, 
and this is sounded whenever the god (Krishna) is carried 
in procession in the temple car.™ 
Chanks used as wind instruments are chosen of as 
large size as possible, and the only preparation they 
require is to have the apex knocked off. 
Apart from their actual use in temple ritual, chank- 
trumpets are employed in connection with harvest rites, 
marriage and funeral ceremonies, and in various other 
ways in different parts of India. It is an essential part 
of the professional paraphernalia used by certain castes 
S 9) 
of religious medicants. ‘“ The Dasari,” Hornell tells us, “is 
> 
** Hornell, of. cét., pp. 134-5. 
o1 Jbid. p. 135§- 
83 /hid. pl. xvii., fig. 1. 
