Sankhari, Sankha-Kara
This article is an extract from
THE TRIBES and CASTES of BENGAL. Ethnographic Glossary. Printed at the Bengal Secretariat Press. 1891. . |
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Sankhari, Sankha-Kara
The shell-cutter is one of the most homogeneous of Bengali castes, and Dacca has always been famous for shell bracelets manufactured by the resident Sankharis. In the whole of Bengal the caste only numbers 11,453 persons, while in the nine eastern districts it embraces 2,735, of whom 1,157 reside in Baqirganj, and 853 in Dacca.
A tradition survives that they orginally came to Eastern Bengal with Ballal Sen, and at the palace of that monarch in Bikrampur the site of a Sankhari Bazar is still shown. When the Muhammadan seat of Government was transferred to Dacca early in the seventeenth century, the shell-cutters were induced to leave their old settlement by the offer of rent-free land in the new city. The Bazar where they now reside has been their headquarters for more than two centuries and a half, but owing to the small size of the rent-free grant, they adopted a very peculiar style of architecture, building two-storied houses with a frontage of six feet and a depth of at least thirty. At the time of the permanent settlement in 1793, the Sankharis, being unable to show authentic title deeds, were obliged to pay ground rent like others of their fellow citizens.
The Sankhari caste is generally met with in the city, the few residing in the country do- not saw shells, but buy them ready cut, and, after grinding, polish them. In Rajshahi, however, the Kumar cuts and polishes shells, while in Chittagong Muhammadans do so likewise.
Like all Sudra castes, the Sankhari has a Bara and a Chhota-bhagya division, the latter being also known as Sunargaon Sankharis. The Chhota-bhagya constitute a very inconsiderable body, occupying not more than twelve houses in a suburb of the city called Khalgarhnagar, where they labour at polishing shells purchased ready cut. These two sections never intermarry, although they belong to one caste, having the same "gotras" and surnames, and one Brahman, but different "dals," or unions. Members of the Chhota-bhagya have become traders, writers, timber and cloth merchants, claiming on that account to be higher in social rank than those who manufacture shell bracelets.
The main section of the Sankharis embraces 350 families, calling themselves Bikrampur Sankhari. In Bengal they are included in the nine clean Sudra castes, their Brahman being the same as the Kayasth.
Their gotras are six in number:�
Sandilya, Kasyapa, Gautama, Madhu Kulya, Aliman, Gargya.
Their Padavis, or patronymics, are Sura, Nag, Nandi, Sena, Dhar, Dutta, and Kara.
It is rare to find a Sankhari who is not a follower of Vishnu or Krishna, while the majority are vegetarians, abstaining even from fish. Their principal festival is held on the last day of Bhadra (August-September), when they give up work for five days, and worship Agastya Rishi, who, according to them, rid the world of a formidable demon called Sankha Asura by means of the semicircular saw used by the shell-cutters at the present day. They are also strict observers of the "Jhulanjattra" and "Janmashtami" in Bhadra, festivals in honour of Krishna, kept by all Bengali Vaishnavas. The Sankharis generally are disciples of the Santipur Gosains, but a few recognise the Khardah family as their spiritual leaders.
The Sankhari bridegroom rides on horseback, but the bride, in red attire, is carried in a palanquin.
The president is styled Muta'bar, Pradhan, and the seats in the assembly were formerly arranged by him according to rank, but now no distinctions are admitted. When a shell-cutter lives beyond the precincts of the Bazar he becomes an outcast, and necessarily joins the Sunargaon division. Not many years have elapsed since a Sankhari who took service, educated himself, or followed any other profession, was degraded, but many are now studying in schools and colleges, and accepting employment without losing their position in society.
The shells used for manufacturing bracelets are imported from the Gulf of Manaar. Natives distinguish many varieties, differing in colour and size, but the ordinary conch shell is the Mazza, or Turbinella, napa. The trade in these shells has flourished from the earliest historical times. The "Chank" is mentioned by Abu Zaid in the tenth century of our era. Tavernier includes shell bracelets among the exports of Dacca in 1666, and adds, that in Patna and Bengal there were over two thousand persons employed in manufacturing them.1
Towards the end of the seventeeth century the shell trade became a monopoly in the hands of the Dutch. A French missionary in 1700 writes:2 "It is scarcely credible how jealous the Dutch are of this commerce. It was death to a native to sell them to anyone but to the factory servants at Ceylon. The shells were bought for a trifle, but when despatched in their own vessels to Bengal, the Dutch acquired great profit." The chank fishery3 became a royalty of the English Government, yielding an annual revenue of 4,000l., but it is now open to all the world. In former days six hundred divers were employed, and in a single season four and a half millions of shells were frequently taken, of the gross annual value of 8,000l. The shells are imported by English merchants into Calcutta, purchased by rich Sankharis, and retailed to the cutters.
On the arrival of the shells the remains of the mollusc (Pitta) are extracted and sold to native physicians as a medicine for spleen enlargement The base (Ghera), the lip, and point of the shell are then knocked off with a hammer, the chips being used as gravel for garden walks, or sold to agents from Murshidabad, where beads are made of the larger pieces, and a paint, ""Mattiya Sindur,"of the smaller.
In the ordinary shell the whorls turn from right to left, but when one is found with the whorls reversed, "Dakshina-varta,"1 its price is extravagant, as it is believed to ensure wealth and prosperity. One-belonging to a Dacca Zamindar is so highly prized that he refused an offer of 300 rupees.
From two to eight bracelets are made from one shell. The sawdust is used to prevent the pitting of smallpox, and as an ingredient of a valuable white paint.
The Sankharis have the character of being very penurious, and unusually industrious, young and old working to a late hour at night. Boys are taught the trade at a very early age, otherwise their limbs would not brook the awkward posture and confined space in which work is carried on. When sawing, the shell is held by the toes, the semicircular saw kept perpendicular, being moved sideways.
Every married Hindu woman wears shell-bracelets, which are as much a badge of wedded life as the red lead streak on the forehead. Unmarried girls, and Muhammadan females of all ranks, adorn their wrists with lac, never with shell, bracelets. The Sankhari are notoriously filthy in their domestic arrangements. A narrow passage, hardly two feet wide, leads through the house to an open courtyard, where the sewage of the household collects, and is never removed. Epidemic diseases
1 Reversed shells are holy, because Vishnu grasps one in his hand, and it is relate that the god hid himslef in it to escape from the fury of his enemies. The reveresed shell is "Der linkse Koningshooren," or "Offerhoorn," of the Dutch; and Rumphius mentions that the natives of Amboyna gave 100 pagodas, or £40, for one. In Nieuhof's day, 1665, a specimen was often sold for 800 reals, or £15, and in Calcutta 400, 500, and even 1,000 rupees, have been given. Balfour's "Cyclopaedia," sub. Chank.
Reversed shells of other species were formerly much valued by European virtuosos. Chemnitz describes one belonging to a burgomaster of Rotterdam, which was sold for over £10, and Dr. E. Clarke mentions one seen in Copenhagen, "not exceeding an inch in length, worth £50."
1 Tavernier, part ii, book ii, 183-4.
2 "Lettres Edifiantes," ii, 278.
3 Accounts of this shell or "sea-horn" fishery are given by Jan Nieuhof in A. and J. Churchill's "Voyages and Travels," vol. ii, 298, and, of a later date, in "Lettres Edifiantes," x, 121. (Ed. 1781.)
are very prevalent, and the municipal authorities are often required to interfere and compel them to adopt vaccination and cleanliness.
The men, as a rule, are pale and flabby, very subject to elephantiasis, hernia, and hydrocele.
Among them are certain families with white skins, light auburn or red hair, and weak blear eyes, with blue hides, who freely intermarry with other families, and transmit the peculiarity to their children.
The women are remarkable for their beauty, confinement within dark rooms giving them a light wheaten complexion. They are, however, squat, becoming corpulent in adult life, and their features, though still handsome, inanimate. They are very shy, but the fact that in former days their good looks exposed them to the insults and outrages of licentious Muhammadan officials is a sufficient excuse for their timidity. Even nowadays the recollection of past indignities rouses the Sankhari to fury, and the greatest abuse that can be cast is to call him a son of 'Abdul Razzaq, or of Rajah Ram Das. The former was a Zamindar of Dacca; the latter the second son of Rajah Raj Bullabh, Diwan of Bengal. It is stated that they frequently broke into houses and carried off the Sankhari girls, being shielded by their rank and influence from any punishment.
An account of a Sankhari who has raised himself to a position of great popularity by his skill, is worthy of mention, Badan Chand Nag is no charlatan, and for twenty years he and his father have treated a considerable proportion of the fractured limbs of citizens. He does not allege, but his patients maintain, that he can effect union of a bone more quickly than the European surgeon. His treatment consists in gently rubbing the seat of fracture with "Momiyai,"1 and Sambhar salt boiled in butter. A leaf of the "Madar" plant (Asclepias) is then laid on the limb, and over it tin splints are fastened. This treatment�far in advance of that followed by Kabiraj or Hakim�is successful in cases of simple fracture.
1 A bitumen brought from Persia, Kabul, and Tibet. Throughout India it is popularly believed to be the "dripping" of Negro boys, who are hung up by the heels, and roasted before a slow fire! Vigne's "Ghazni," p. 62; "J.A.S. Bengal," xlv, 51.
Since the days of Dioscorides, bitumen has by Eastern physicians been considered to possess the following qualities: "discutit, glutinat, emollit, ab inflammatione tuetur.", Arabian doctors recognised two kinds, "Al qafr al Yahudi," from the Dead Sea, and "Al Momiyai al Qaburi," used in preparing mummies. See also "Ibn Haukal," p. 133.
