Shankha (śaṅkha)

A shankha is a conch, blown to open a battle, to announce a great warrior and to consecrate a rite, and every major figure at Kurukshetra owns a named one. Krishna blows the Panchajanya, Arjuna the Devadatta, Bhima the Paundra and Yudhishthira the Anantavijaya, and the Bhagavad Gita opens with the roll call of their voices before Arjuna asks to be driven between the armies. In peace the same instrument marks worship, so the sound stands at both ends of the epic's emotional range.