Authenticity of Dakshinavarty Valampuri Shankh
The Great Dakshinawarthy Valampuri Shankha
The great Dakshinawarthy valampuri Shankha being extremely rare in nature, highly sacred, being highly sought after hence being priceless encourages lot of manipulation & production of fake conches.
There are total six varieties of the species Sinistral Turbinella pyrum (Dakshinawarthy valampuri). There is little difference in their appearance but not their characteristics, so kindly do net get confused or doubtful if you come across slight variations in two different conches of the same species but different varieties.
It has been very very difficult to test the authenticity of a dakshinawarthy valampuri shankha, even the dealers in south of India & some known websites get cheated or intentionally cheat because they sell & buy on faith or do not want to disclose the methods of testing directly to clients. Above that they still practice the traditional methods of checking the authenticity which is not full proof & are unaware of the scientific methods of testing. We at RudraBlessings do not keep any secrets in regards to authenticity & also have taken forward the task to educate & satisfy our clients, so we hereby share the testing methods with our clients rather than providing a “so called authenticity certificate”, incase you do not wish to buy from us this will help you reduce your chances of getting cheated. This has made it extremely easy to buy an authentic Dakshinawarthy valampuri shankha.
Dakshinawarthy Valampuri shankh requirements
The nature produces this rare auspicious product in one piece (free of artificial joints); hence it needs to satisfy the following requirements to be called as a genuine “dakhshinawarthy valampuri shankha” or a “Sinistral Turbinella Pyrum”.
1) It should be one piece in nature free of artificial joints & cracks.
2) The most important characteristic of a “dakshinawarty valampuri” is that it should be a product of south India ranging from south west to south east, opening towards the right & should have 2-7 natural continuous spiral ridges (pilae) running right from the opening of the conch to the internal top “head” of the conch.
3) It should belong to the “Sinistral Turbinella Pyrum” species which can be confirmed only by an expert.
4) Finally, for safety & reconfirmation it can be shown to a known expert of the same.
1) As mentioned above the authenticity of the most important characteristics of valampuri shankha is most important. The most important characteristic being it should be free of any artificial joints, should be opening towards the right hand side, with 2 or more pilae running right from the opening to the top "head" of the sacred conch; all these requirements shall be fulfilled with the help of high resolution X- radiography. X-radiography shall detect any artificially joints, cracks & would clearly show the formation of pilae (continuous spiral ridges).
In case of the valampuri being artificially joined, the X- ray would show that it is artificially joined or the pilae wouldn't be visible in the internal part of the conch.
P.S. There is in no way that the pilae can be formed artificially right from the opening to the internal top of the conch. If they pilae are artificially created then they would only be visible externally & wouldn’t show internally in the x ray. If they pilae are original & continuous but the conch is joint it would mean that it is an attempt to sell a left hand conch which is converted into right hand with the help of skilled artisans.
Any radiologists can also help you to check the above requirements if you cannot interpret an x ray.
Avoid confusions
The variation noticed in the six different varieties of “Sinistral Turbinella Pyrum” or “Dakshinawarthy Valampuri Shankh” are usually in terms of
a) Body texture (smooth, semi smooth & with contours)
b) Pilae (these might vary in number from 2 to 7)
c) Shape (round, elliptical & top like)
d) colour (this is a characteristic that depends majorly on the water content & the absorption of same by the sacred conch, the appear in varied colors, in combination of colors & with natural colored spots too..)
so kindly do not get confused or doubt its originality if there is minor difference in the two varieties. To know more about the characteristics of valampuri shankha please view Valampuri anatomy (in related articles section n right hand side of the main page)
e) this is major characteristic which sellers encourage but it doesn’t make any sense i.e they often say that the opening of the conch should be very wide, narrow openings are suspicious, well there can be a difference in the variety of the conch hence there can be slight variation in the opening as well.
e) this is major characteristic which sellers encourage but it doesn’t make any sense i.e they often say that the opening of the conch should be very wide, narrow openings are suspicious, well there can be a difference in the variety of the conch hence there can be slight variation in the opening as well.
We hereby provide you with image & x ray of an original conch as well as an artificial one.