Also read hora. Also written 宝螺. Also sometimes called ra 螺. Sk: dharmasankha. A conch shell used as a Buddhist trumpet. In ancient India the conch shell was used as a trumpet on the battlefield to transmit orders to the troops. It symbolized authority. In Hinduism it is an attribute of the god Vishnu who uses it to terrify enemies with its blaring sound. In the Buddhist tradition the conch, with sound emitted in all directions, represents the spread of Buddhist teaching. As a prominent Buddhist ritual object in Tibet, it is used for liturgical music, to call assemblies, to drive away evil spirits, and to symbolize the mantra "Om". In Japan, the hōra was introduced along with Esoteric Buddhism mikkyō 密教 from the Tang dynasty. It is used in mikkyō, along with other objects, for an anointment ceremony called kanjō 灌頂 in which a master confers a certain status upon a disciple. There is a Muromachi period example of a hōra at Tōji 東寺 in Kyoto. Hōra are also used as paraphernalia for yamabushi 山伏 (mountain priests) in the mystic ascetic practice of shugendō 修験道 (see *En no gyōja 役行者). The hōra is used as a *jimotsu 持物 (hand-held attribute) for *Senju Kannon 千手観音 (Thousand-armed Kannon), as seen in the 8th century example from Tōshōdaiji 唐招提寺 in Nara. Although the attributes and number of arms of *Juntei 准胝 vary, she may be depicted holding a hōra. Kōryūji 広隆寺 in Kyoto owns a 13th-century painting of an eighteen-armed Juntei holding a hōra in one of the right hands. As an attribute of *Kannon 観音 the hōra symbolizes the calling forth of good spirits zenshin 善神.