Shankha; A thing of worship? A trumpet?

The other day I was awakened by the sound of shankha. This took me back to the early 60s in Kolkata. I remembered seeing Bengali girls blowing shankha during marriage ceremonies and thought of it as a trumpet. Then I saw it in one of the hands of Devi Durga during Durga Puja. I was confused. There had to be a reason for Durga to carry it. I wanted to know more about shankha. You too want to know, right? I know people expect you to know a lot of things by yourself and you feel ashamed to ask about common things at home. Even if you gather all your courage and ask it anyway, you end up with another question, ‘yeti pani jandainau?’ and you feel humiliated. No need to fret. That is usually the case in almost everyone’s home. Your question remains unanswered till you, somehow, find out the answer you are looking for, but I was fortunate. I asked my father about shankha. He told me that it was an object of worship and is blown during pujas, sometimes during aarati too. Apart from that, he told me plenty more about shankha. Let me share some of the information with you. [break]



Shankha symbolizes purity and is considered auspicious in both Hinduism and Buddhism. When blown, it produces a sound, often associated with OM. Vishnu’s lower right hand, representing the creative tendency, holds the shankha known as Panchajanya. It is spiral clockwise, and is said to be a fountain that evolves the five elements: water, fire, air, earth and sky. The ones that spiral counterclockwise are said to defy the “laws of nature,” and belong to Lord Shiva. Durga, being the avatar of Shakti also carries a Shankha. So you see, having a friend in your parents does help a lot in getting answers or to work with them towards finding answers. The next question you are mulling over is, ‘how does a shankha produce sound?’



I am sure by now you are aware, that, shankha is a wind instrument. If you look at a shankha closely, you will find a hole drilled near the tip of it. When air is blown through this hole, the air travels around the whorls of the shankha, producing a loud, sharp, shrill sound known as shankhanaad. This is the reason shankha was used as a war trumpet. The battle in Mahabharat began and ended with shankhanad. Now you want to know where shankha comes from, right?



Shankha is a conch shell, the outer shell of a large-sized predatory sea snail species, Turbinella pyrum, found in the Indian Ocean and surrounding seas. Surprised? Don’t be, because what I am going to tell you will surprise you even more.



I had a very interesting experience in Hawaii. One of my friends asked me to put the seashell we had just bought as a souvenir, up to my ear. I heard the roar of the waves rolling onto the shore. No matter how far away from the ocean I stood, I could still hear it. I know, I know you are saying, ‘how can that be possible?’ I too was puzzled. I thought it was the echoing of my blood rushing through the blood vessels of my ear. Later I found out that the wave-like noise is ambient noise from around you. The shell acts as a resonating chamber. When sound from outside enters the shell, it bounces around, creating an audible noise. So, the louder the environment you are in, the louder the ocean-like sound will be.



Next time you want to hear the sound of the sea, hold a cup to your ear, you don’t even need a seashell to produce the same “ocean” sound. Go ahead and try it. Have fun hearing the ocean in your free time.



Pokharel is an educationist, consultant and author of several children’s books.

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