Panchajanya

Panchajanya is the white conch shell, or shankha, that Vishnu carries, usually in his upper left hand, opposite the discus Sudarshana. Krishna, Vishnu's avatar, carries and sounds the same conch.

The conch is one of the four emblems that identify Vishnu in temple images, together with the discus, the mace Kaumodaki and the lotus.

How Krishna won the conch

The Bhagavata Purana (Book 10, ch. 45) tells how Krishna and Balarama, after completing their studies with the sage Sandipani in Avanti, offered to pay their teacher a fee. Sandipani asked for the return of his son, who had drowned in the sea at Prabhasa. Krishna went into the ocean and learned that the boy had been seized by the demon Panchajana, who lived inside a great conch shell. Krishna slew the demon, took the shell, and went on to the realm of Yama to bring the boy back. The conch kept the demon’s name: Panchajanya.

The conch at Kurukshetra

The Bhagavad Gita (1.15) records the moment the war begins: Hrishikesha, that is Krishna, blows Panchajanya, and Arjuna blows his conch Devadatta. The sound is said to tear through the hearts of the opposing army. For many readers this single verse is the most famous appearance of the conch in Hindu literature.

The conch in worship

The shankha is blown at the start and end of aarti in homes and temples across India, and water poured from a conch is offered to Vishnu during abhisheka. A rare right-spiralling conch, the dakshinavarti shankha, is treated as especially auspicious and associated with Lakshmi. The conch also appears as one of the auspicious symbols, the mangala chihnas, and as a royal emblem in Kerala and elsewhere.