THE CHANK BANGLE INDUSTRY. 
42 1 
pilgrims who visited the city are extant. The story of Valabhipur goes back some 
centuries before the Christian era and for long it was the seat of the Valabhis, a Rajput 
race, and the centre of their rule, till a.d. 766 when the last of the line was overthrown 
by Arab invaders from Sind. Valabhipur was visited by the Chinese pilgrim HiuenTsang 
in the course of his fifteen years’ sojourn in India (a.d. 630-645) and by I.Tsing in the 
succeeding century. Both pilgrims describe it as a large and flourishing city and a 
great centre of Buddhist learning, its streets and schools crowded with students. The 
reigning dynasty, themselves of the Brahman faith, appear to have been tolerant of 
Buddhism like many of their contemporaries. In Hiuen Tsang’s day the latter religion 
was still followed by great numbers of the populace, especially in Orissa and Southern 
India ; elsewhere Hinduism was rapidly becoming the popular religion and the mass 
of the people were of this faith when the last Valabhi dynasty ended in a.d. 766. 
As the chank is a religious symbol both to Hindus and to Buddhists, we may 
reasonably conclude that the remains of chank bangles found in Valabhipur were 
made for the use of the women of the town and neighbourhood not later than the 
eighth century. The trade must have been long established at that time to judge 
by the excellence of the work turned out, which fully equals that of average Bengal 
workmanship of the present day. 
Taking all facts into consideration I am inclined to date the majority of the bangle 
fragments found in the Kathiawar and Gujarat sites as roughly contemporary with the 
Valabhipur specimens, or at most not antedating them by more than 300 to 400 years. 
To date the Deccan chank bangle factories is more difficult ; one outstanding 
fact is the simplicity of all the patterns. The great majority are devoid of ornament 
save for a boss roughly carved at one side. This plainness of design would seem to 
bespeak less skill on the part of the Deccan workman than on that of his fellow craftsman 
in Gujarat. If that be the explanation, and if it be not due to lack of taste or of the 
means to pay for good work on the part of the buyers, then we may reasonably date 
the majority of these fragments back to the first few centuries before or after the 
beginning of the Christian era. The presence among the pottery mixed with the 
bangle fragments found near Srinivaspur in Mysore of a flat sherd similar in pattern 
to one found with the Buddhist remains at Gudivada in Kistna District is noteworthy 
as lending further countenance to this conclusion. 
( d ) The finds made argue that apart from Tinnevelly in the South two other 
great centres of chank-bangle manufacture and usage existed, one in the Southern 
Deccan, the other adjacent to the coast of Kathiawar. It is most probable that other 
centres of the industry did exist, but at present there is little direct evidence to this 
effect. For instance it is not likely that an industry which was firmly established in 
Eastern Bengal at the time of the arrival of the Portuguese in India ' and of Tavernier’s 
travels in the seventeenth century, and which continues to flourish at the present day, 
should be of modern growth. 
With regard to the third known seat of the industry in ancient times, that which 
1 “ Garcia da Orta writing in the sixteenth century states that the chank was then an article of importance in the 
Bengal trade, though less valuable than formerly. 
