Also called: conch · marine shell · Shankh Chinha · dakṣiṇāvartī śaṅkha

Where on the hand: Most auspiciously at the centre of the palm on Rahu Parvat; also on inner Mars, on any of the named mounts, on the first phalanx of the little finger, and on the fingers generally.

What it looks like: A closed figure narrowing to a point at one end and swelling into a broad rounded body at the other, with one or two internal lines spiralling or curving inside the body — the whole reading as a spiral shell in profile. Frequently formed by a curved line doubling back on itself with a short line closing the mouth. An alternative, simpler form is a spiral or near-circular whorl.

Money and fame; scriptural learning; ocean travel and foreign commerce; spirituality; divine incarnation. In one common Hindi formulation, the shankh-bearer is a person on whom Lakṣmī's grace is permanent — 'owner of immeasurable wealth for a lifetime.' Both the Bṛhat Saṃhitā and the Garuḍa Purāṇa list the conch among the kingship-conferring marks, for both men and women.

Western reading: Mrs. Dale groups 'conch, marine shells, circular figure' as one category (fig. 5), reading it as learning.

Read with care: Source withdrawn: “Rāvaṇa Saṃhitā” cannot be substantiated as a text containing palmistry. There is no critical edition and no manuscript-catalogue entry; the name attaches to an Ayurvedic Arka-kalpa work, a tantric Ḍāmara-type compilation, and modern Hindi trade volumes — none with an attested hasta-rekhā section.

The person will be a learned man.Mrs. J. B. Dale, Indian Palmistry, fig. 5

if the conch mark is incomplete or crossed by other lines, the full beneficial effects diminish substantiallyHindi Samudrika sources