The Music and Musical Instruments of Southern India and the Deccan c10.19

c10.19

There can be no doubt that the practice of using it is as ancient as Hinduism itself, and the ritual liturgies and works on ceremonial observances define the use to be made of it.¹ In fact, the use of bells for religious purposes seems to have been from the earliest times so universal amongst almost all nations that it is only necessary to point out that the exact counterpart of the Hindu Ghante is to be found at the present day in the Sanctus bell in use in Christian Churches, and it is perhaps worthy of note that in the great sculptured Trimurti or Hindu trinity at Elephanta one of the figures holds a bell.