Prayer beads
[2][3][4][5] The oldest image of a string of beads in a religious context and resembling a string of prayer beads is found on the fresco of the "Adorants" (or "Worshipers") at the Xeste 3 building of the prehistoric settlement of Akrotiri, Santorini (Thera,) Greece (Wall Paintings of Thera.
Roman Catholics came to use the Rosary (Latin "rosarium", meaning "rose garden") with 59 beads.
[16] A more explicit reference is that in 1125 William of Malmesbury mentioned a string of gems that Lady Godiva used to count prayers.
[16][17] The oldest prayer beads to be found in Britain were discovered by archaeologists on Lindisfarne in 2022: made of salmon vertebrae, they date from the 8th or 9th century.
The loops of knotted wool (or occasionally of beads), called brojanica (Serbian, Macedonian), chotki (Russian) or komboskini (Greek) to pray the Jesus Prayer.
[22] In the mid-1980s, Anglican prayer beads were developed in the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, originating in the Diocese of Texas.
[8] The set consists of 33 beads (representing the 33 years of the life of Christ) arranged in four groupings of symbolic significance.
The tasbih prayer is a dhikr that involves the repetitive utterances of short sentences to praise and glorify God.
Most currents of mainstream Islam consider the use of the misbaha in prayer and recitations to be an accepted practice.
[23] According to Mirza Tahir Ahmad, the former head of the Ahmadiyya Islamic revival community, the use of prayer beads is considered an innovation not practiced by early Muslims.
[24] Sikh worshipers may use mala (prayer beads) while reciting verses from the Guru Granth Sahib.
[30] Japamala are used for repetition of a mantra, for other forms of sādhanā or "spiritual exercise" and as an aid to meditation.
[31] The most common materials used for making the beads are Rudraksha seeds (used by Shaivites) and Ocimum tenuiflorum (tulasi) stems (used by Vaishnavites).
[26] Shaivites believe that the Rudraksha Japa Mala[32] epitomizes ancient wisdom and mystical energies, offering seekers a conduit to inner peace and spiritual harmony.
"[34] Prayer beads (Chinese: 佛珠; 念珠; pinyin: fózhū, niànzhū, Japanese: 数珠, romanized: juzu, zuzu, Korean: 염주 (yeomju), Standard Tibetan: ཕྲེང་བ།, romanized: phreng ba) are also used in many forms of Mahayana Buddhism, often with a lesser number of beads (usually a divisor of 108).
[verification needed] Various type of materials are used to make mala beads such as seeds of the rudraksha, beads made from the wood of the tulsi plant, animal bone, wood or seeds from the Bodhi Tree (a particularly sacred tree of the species Ficus religiosa) or of Nelumbo nucifera (the lotus plant).
[35] The Baháʼí Faith stipulates that the verse Alláh-u-Abhá "God the All-Glorious" be recited 95 times daily after the performance of ablutions.
Bahá’í prayer beads are made of any number of natural and man-made materials including glass, precious and semi-precious stones, various metals and wood.
