Mostly found in South Eastern Asian Islands of Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Bali, Iran, Timor (Indonesia) and parts of South Asian Kingdom of Nepal, Rudraksha beads are considered as the most potent healing beads and belong to the Tree family Elaeocarpus Ganitrus. Around 70% of the Rudraksha trees are found in Indonesia, 25% in Nepal and 5% in India. They were first spotted in Indonesia and now grow in Nepal, Haridwar, Srilanka and Malaysia.
Nepal beads are larger in size and thorny with several projections and have deep clear mukhis. Size of Nepal beads vary from 14mm- 40mm with average size 24 mm whereas Java beads are much smaller in size with smoother surface and mukhi lines are visible as white lines from one hole to the other very close to the surface and not etched very deep. Sizes of Java beads vary from 4 mm-25 mm, with average size 12 mm.
Both varieties of Nepal and Java beads range from 1 to 21 mukhi inclusive of Ganesh, Gauri Shankar, Savar and Trijuti Rudraksha. In both varieties, the number of seeds inside is equal to the no. of mukhi lines on them. So 2 mukhi Rudraksha has 2 seeds, 8 mukhi will have 8 seeds, 14 mukhi will have 14 seeds and so on.
Natural Hole: Both have natural hole which is a hollow cavity in the center of the bead that can be easily cleared manually without drilling.
Effect wise, both varieties work on balancing chakras and healing mind, mind and spirit in all aspects. While some people love the Nepal beads for their beauty, some find the Java beads convenient to wear on a daily basis. Nepal beads start resonating with the body in a period of 4-5 days, while Java beads take about 8-10 days to align with body due to smaller surface area. But as they worn regularly on body, they both show similar healing properties on a longer duration of time.
At Chakra Yog, we follow strict selection procedure wherein each bead is tested for genuineness, completeness of mukhis, health, high quality, energy levels and uniformity. Beads go through energizing rituals using Vedic mantras. Light sandal paste and sandal oil is applied to them in this process. The energized beads combination is then ready to be shipped to the client.
On the other side, Rudraksha trees in Haridwar or South India/ Srilanka are not similar to those of Indonesia & Nepal. Beads there are found to have no natural hole, and also have very limited variety of mukhis which range from 1 mukhi to 8 mukhi as visible in outer structure. Internally they show only one seed and thus are not attributed to be True Rudraksha beads.