Rudraksha Mala - Knotted 10mm

108 rudraksha seeds at 10mm, hand knotted with a tassel. Ten millimetres is a big bead; this is a mala with real weight to it, and the size is deliberate, because it is much easier to count with your eyes closed.

Rudraksha are the stones of the fruit of Elaeocarpus ganitrus, a tree of the Himalayan foothills and Southeast Asia. The name breaks down as Rudra plus aksha, the eye of Rudra, Rudra being the fierce form of Shiva; the story that they are his tears, fallen after the destruction of Tripurasura, is the legend attached to the name rather than the translation of it. Either way, the rudraksha mala is the Shaiva counterpart to a tulsi mala. Each seed is divided into segments by natural grooves running pole to pole, called mukhi or faces, and traditions assign different meanings to different counts. Most beads are five-faced, which is the ordinary and perfectly good one.

A mala has 108 beads and a head bead, and you work it one bead per repetition until you come back round. Why 108 gets answered a dozen different ways, depending on who you ask: the count of upanishads in the Muktika canon, the product of nine and twelve, the 107 marma points of Ayurveda with the mind counted as the last one, the distance from earth to sun in solar diameters. Nobody agrees and everybody is confident. What is not in dispute is the practical function. The beads hold the count so your attention does not have to, which frees you to actually pay attention.

They are seeds, so no two are identical. Look closely at a strand and you will see the grooves wander, the surface pit differently on each one, and the color run from tan to chocolate. It is the opposite of a strung line of matched gemstones and that is the point.

Good to Know

108 seeds at 10mm plus the head bead, hand knotted. Natural seeds, so size, color and surface vary noticeably across one strand. Keep them dry; if they ever look chalky, a little oil worked in with your fingers brings the color back. Do not soak them.

Try It With

The tulsi mala if you want the Vaishnava strand instead. The Lord Shiva statue and a Shiva lingam are the obvious company. Nitiraj Shiva incense to burn while you sit. More in altar items.