Tibetan malas

The mala, a true Tibetan rosary, consists of 108 grains. It accompanies the recitation of mantras and improves people's karma. The Tibetans hold them in their left hand to shell them and wear them either on their wrists rolled up several times, or around their necks like a necklace. Traditional malas are made of imperial lotus seeds, wood, horn, stones, bones...
On the decorative part of the mala, the knots slide so that the thread can be lengthened and space put between the grains: it is easier to finger the rosary if you can separate the grains, and it is useful to adjust the length if you wear it as a bracelet!