Akshamala

Akshamala, is a garland of beads, made of pearls, bones, shalagram shila, dried seeds, berries, or sometimes of skulls. It is the attribute of many gods and deities in Hinduism. In general, an Akshamala is composed of fifty beads, corresponding to the characters of Sanskrit alphabet, the 'garland of bija' (Sanskrit: Varnamala). In some cases, it may consist of 81 or 108 beads; both are significant numbers in Hinduism.

Akshamala is also a vedantic thesaurus written in Telugu by Late Shri. Mangu Konet Rao (1905-1996).

References

• Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend (ISBN 0-500-51088-1) by Anna Dallapiccola