Panchajanya Shankh of Lord Shri Krishna is a very special conch, it is rare. It is said that this conch originated during the churning of the ocean. This conch was the sixth gem among the gems produced in the churning of the sea and after that Goddess Lakshmi and this conch were adorned near Lord Vishnu. But the presence of this conch is also described in the Mahabharata.
According to legend, Krishna and Balarama stayed at Maharishi Sandipani’s hermitage to receive education. Where he got the knowledge of Vedas-Puranas and Upanishads etc. and when the education was completed, he prayed to Gurudev to ask for Dakshina.
Maharishi Sandipani knew that Krishna was an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, so he restored his son Punardatta, who had died due to drowning in the sea; Asked for Dakshina to return. After taking Guru’s permission, Shri Krishna reached the beach along with Balram and prayed to the ocean god to return Guru’s son. But no answer was received from sea god.
Due to this, Shri Krishna got angry and warned to dry up the entire ocean and due to this fear, the ocean god appeared. He bowed before Krishna with folded hands and told that Maharishi’s son is not in the ocean.
But at the same time, he created apprehension that an asura, whose name was Panchjan, lives in the bottom of the ocean. Panchajan was famous by the name Shankhasur and he used to eat humans by making them his food. Sagar Dev said that it is possible that he has made Guru’s son his morsel. Hearing this, Krishna and Balarama went down to the bottom of the ocean and searched for Shankhasur.
Shri Krishna asked him about Guruputra, but he refused to tell and proceeded to kill Krishna as well. But Shri Krishna killed him. When he died, they tore open his stomach, but they did not find any child there.
There he found a conch shell, which Krishna took and left for Yamaloka. When he was stopped by the Yamdoots after reaching Yamlok, Krishna blew his conch shell. That conch shell was so terrible that the whole Yamlok was shaken. Then Yamraj appeared in front of him and obeying the Lord, he returned the Guru’s son.
Presented a conch to the guru as dakshina
Taking Guru’s son Punardatta and that conch shell, Shri Krishna reached Guru Sandipani’s ashram and presented it to him. Guru was extremely pleased to see his son, he saw that conch shell and said that it is the sacred five-janya conch shell and presented it to Shri Krishna only. In this way Shri Krishna got his conch ‘Panchjanya’.