It's in Bhavani temple, situated in the historic Pratapgad, that Nitin Hadap, then a toddler, first encountered the cowrie—revered, polished seashells used in the worship of the devi Bhavani. As he belonged to the head priest family, the fort precinct was his residence, and it brought him in touch with folk singers (Gondhalis) who offered a garland of cowries (kavadis) to the Devi.  The self-whipping Potraj also wore a chain of cowrie shells. Hadap has vivid recollections of using the cowrie as dice in the indoor chausar (saaripaat) game. Little did Hadap know that the object—a monetary system no longer in existence—will feature in his paper titled, Cultural Studies of Cowrie Accessory Design Traditions: Diversity and Current Design Practices in India, recently presented at the Seventeenth International Conference on Design Principles and Practices, hosted by the Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon, Portugal.

The cowries, referred to as “kavadi mol”, which translates to least value currency, has won him the Emerging Scholar Award at the conference. He was recognised for unravelling the cowries that are deeply rooted in Maharashtra’s religious practices, faith-based conventions, cultural exchanges, and social life for the last 
2,000 years.