64 OKHAMANDAL MARINE ZOOLOGY— PART II 



bears a spiiited representation of a lion leaping upon the back of a bull. These objects 

 were apparently ornaments worn suspended from a cord. 



As there are no chank-fisheries in the Persian Gulf, tliese objects must have been 

 imported from India either from Kathiawar or from tlie Gulf of Mannar. The libation 

 cup would seem to show a much more widely spread use of the chank shell in ancient 

 times than we have hitherto suspected and research directed to this special point in 

 collections coming from Babylonian, Assyrian and ancient Persian sites should throw 

 further light on this subject. 



(b) THE FORMER EXISTENCE OF BANGLE FACTORIES IN THE DECCAN AND IN 



GUJARAT AND KATHIAV^^AR. 



I have been unable to obtain any evidence from ancient Indian writings of the 

 existence elsewhere than in the extreme south of the country of any ancient custom of 

 wearing bangles cut from chank shells. Probably such references do exist, and if this 

 be so, I trust the present notes may elicit their quotation by scholars who are familiar 

 with the ancient Sanscrit and Gujarati classics, the most probable sources of information. 

 Fortunately, in this apparent absence of written records, archaeology has important 

 evidence to offer, and although it is difficult to date the greater portion of this testimony 

 with any exactitude, it offers irrefutable proof that the industry of chank-cutting and the 

 custom of wearing chank bangles had once much less restricted geograpliical range than 

 at the present day. 



Apart from the finds in the Pandyan country, mentioned above, a considerable 

 amount of archaeological evidence exists proving that extensive chank-bangle factories 

 were located in ancient times in the Deccan and in Guj arat and Kathiawar. The principal 

 finds proving this were made by the late Mr. Bruce Foote ; they are now deposited in 

 .the Madras Museum and form an exhibit of wonderful and unique interest. 



The remains obtained in these localities consist of two distinct series ; one comprising 

 fragments of finished chank-bangles which appear to have been once actually worn, 

 and discarded owing to accidental breakage or else purposely broken as a sign of 

 mourning, the second, either of sawn rings of chank shells — working sections — ready for 

 the bangle carver and polisher or of waste material from chank-bangle cutters' workshops. 

 In the Southern Deccan and neighbourhood chank bangle fragments have been 

 found in the following districts and States, namely :— 

 Mysore. 

 Bellary. 

 Anantapur. 

 Kurnul. 

 Raichixr Doab. 

 Guntur. 

 Kistna. 



