SHIVRATRI AND SEA SHELLS

                                           

Shivratri And Sea Shells..

There is a Kashmiri saying, "haari hoss ta karav kyah" meaning," someone sells the elephant for one sea shell. What can we do? We don't have even  that little with us ". 

In Africa sea  shell money was widely used as legal tender up until the mid 19th century. The shells of Olivella nana, the sparkling dwarf olive sea snail were harvested on Luanda Island for use as currency in the Kingdom of Kongo. They were even traded north as far as the Kingdom of Benin,Nigeria.

Sea shells have been used for at least four millennia as a bargaining chip in China and Europe, and when metal coins became popular, they were often re-produced on them. The profile of a cowry, a shell always linked to the concept of money, appeared on the first coins of the Western world around the 5th -4th centu-ry BC.

In  India also, sea shells were used  in trade on account of use-value as body ornamentation. Ancient Kashmir also put them to use in commodity trade . That is why Kashmiris call these sea shells as Haara a term still used for currency .

There is some evidence to suggest that shell money was introduced across India during the intense, millennia long cultural and population exchange between North Indians, who speak Indo-Aryan languages and descend in part from the Aryan peoples mentioned in the Rig Veda, and various peoples they had assimilated with time, represented today by Dravidian speakers and various tribal peoples .The word "cowrie" in English actually is a loan word from Hindustani kauṛī (कौड़ी, کوڑی) which is derives from Sanskrit kapardikā (कपर्दिका).

On Shivratri day , we got these shells from the shopkeeper.They were sold by weight . In Rainawari , Prem Nath Khosa, Kiryana trader  at Kraalyar sold them. We played with these shells a strange game .I remember    Chhot, Botul, Kooen and some more terms of that game. For that game, these shells( known as Haara in Kashmiri)  were like coin  currency .One could win or lose them.  

And as per ancient texts,  Lord Shiva is fond of Cowry shells, as it is believed that the Cowrie shell looks like His braided hair.Cowrie shells are also worn as jewellery or otherwise used as ornaments or charms. In some  cultures, cowrie shells are viewed as symbols of womanhood, fertility, birth and wealth.

Ek tha bachapan...

( Avtar Mota)

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