Panchajanya

Panchajanya (Sanskrit: पाञ्चजन्य, IAST: Pāñcajanya) is the shankha (conch) of the Hindu preserver deity Vishnu, one of his four primary attributes. The Panchajanya symbolises the five elements, and is considered to produce the primeval sound of creation when blown.

According to the Mahabharata, Vishnu is said to have slain a daitya (a member of a clan of asuras) named Panchajana on a mountain named Chakravan, which was constructed by Vishvakarma, and to have seized the conch shell in which Panchajana had lived. The conch is named after the daitya.

In the Bhagavad Gita, the Panchajanya is mentioned:

Then, Lord Krishna blew His conchshell, called Pancajanya; Arjuna blew his, the Devadatta; and Bhima, the voracious eater and performer of extremely difficult tasks, blew his terrific conchshell called Paundram

— Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 1, Verse 15

As per the Harivamsha, Krishna is described as possessing a conch shell called Panchajanya, one of his four attributes, along with the mace Kaumodaki, the disc-like weapon Sudarshana Chakra, and a lotus. The conch was used during the Kurukshetra War and, in popular tradition, is believed to have signaled both its beginning and end.^{[citation needed]}

The Skanda Purana features two origin legends for the conch.

The Panchajanya is mentioned to be among the various substances and beings that emerged during the Samudra Manthana: