Conch Shell (Shankha)

The conch shell trumpet, called shankha in Sanskrit, is among the oldest sound instruments in the world. It has been used in Hindu, Buddhist and Indigenous traditions, from the coasts of India to the high plateaus of Tibet. Everywhere its sound carries the same message: something meaningful is beginning or ending. In Tibetan Buddhism the shankha is one of the Eight Auspicious Symbols, the Ashtamangala. Its sound stands for the proclamation of the Buddha's teachings, far-reaching and impossible to ignore. In monasteries it is blown to open ceremonies.

The form is given by nature. The shankha is the shell of a real sea snail, usually of the species Turbinella pyrum from the Indian Ocean. Most spiral anticlockwise. Especially prized are the rare clockwise-spiralling Dakshinavarti shankhas, which the tradition regards as particularly auspicious.

The shell is finished by Tibetan artisans in the Himalayas with fittings of silver or brass, often engraved with mantras, lotus flowers and auspicious symbols, and given a metal mouthpiece. Each shell has grown differently in nature and the fittings are worked by hand, so no two are exactly alike. To own a shankha is to hold a piece of living history in your hands.