THE INDIAN CONCH 



(TURBINELLA PYRUM, LINN.) 



AND ITS RELATION TO HINDU LIFE 



AND RELIGION 



JAMES HORNELL, F.L S., 



Marine Assistant, Department of Fisheries, Madras, and formerly Marine 

 Biologist to the Government of Ceylon 



[With Sjbven Platrs and Two Text-figures] 



Introductory . . . . . . 



I. —Life-history and Local Races of the Chank ... 



II. — The Sources of Industrial Supply . 



III.— The Role Played by the Chank in Indian Religion and Life 



(1) Legendary and Historical . . .... 



(2) Present Day Uses ;— 



PAGE 



{g) Totems 



(A) Evil-eye Superstitions 

 (i) Personal Adornment . 



(J) Feeding Spouts 



{k) As Currency and in Armorial Bearings 



(J.) Limb-making 



(rn) Medicine 



(n) Food . 



(o) Incense Sticks . . . . 



(p) Assembly Calls, etc. 



IV. — The Use of Chank Bangles — 



(1) In Northern India . . . . 



(2) In the Madras Presidency ... . . 



(3) The Antiquity of the Chank-bangle Industry : — 



(a) In the . Tinnevelly District in the beginning of the Christian Era 

 {h) Its Former Existence in the Deccan, Gujarat and Kathiawar . 



V. The Scope for the Development of a Shell- bangle Industry in Okhamandal 



