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Seawolf Shop

Sandalwood mala

Sandalwood mala

Regular price €10,00 EUR
Regular price Sale price €10,00 EUR
Sale Sold out
Tax included.

The specific kind of beaded necklaces known as mala’s are quite familiair nowadays. Often they are simply worn as jewelry-with-a-spiritual touch, but they have a very ancient and rich history.

The earliest known examples of beads used in a spiritual context can be found in India, where Hindu monks moved loose shells, stones, grains or beads from one side to another to support in keeping focus and concentration and keep count of the number of repetitions of mantra’s or prayers during their spiritual practice. Another variation was to tie knots in a piece of cord or rope for that purpose. Around the 8th century BCE, In India and Nepal, these two variations were combined to stringing the beads on a cord, and thus the mala was born.

From early Hinduism the mala also found its way into Buddhism and eventually its usage spread further into the world in lots of different religions and spiritual traditions. For example; in western Christianity the string of prayer beads is called ‘rosary’ or ‘pater noster cord’ and in the Islam it’s known as ‘mishaba’ or ‘tasbi’.

In different traditions there are of course many variations in the appearance of the prayer beads; for example in how many beads are strung on the cord or from which material the beads are made. Mala’s with a buddhist origin often are made with 108 beads, in many eastern traditions a sacred number with different symbolic meanings. It refers to, for example, the 108 names of Shiva, the 108 different kinds of desire that obscure our human minds or  the 108 Upanishads, sacred Sanskrit texts sharing wisdom in the last part of the Veda’s.

These mala’s here in our shop are made with 108 beads from natural wood from the sandalwood family; in Nepal this wood is named “Green Santal’ to distinguish it from the endangered and nowadays also protected red sandalwood. The beads are strung on a brown, elastic cord, which makes it also easy to wear them for example as bracelet. Total length of the mala is approximately 58 centimeters (measured not stretched).

Beneath the central guru bead a silver colored dorje-pendant is attached, a symbol widespread in Hinduism and Buddhism,  symbolizing the true nature of the universe and reality; the endless, ultimate emptiness in which all possibilities exist. The dorje supports in 'cutting through the crap of the mind', finding a clear path through the diversions of the 'monkey-mind' and ego-chatter, seeing what's real and what's not. The dorje is said to destroy all kinds of ignorance and in this way helps in gaining true insights. The dorje pendant is approximately 17 millimeters wide.

These mala's come to us via our friends at Shaman Bazar.

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