Prayer
How many beads on prayer beads? Tasbih, rosary, mala, chotki and more compared
Prayer beads have no single count. A Muslim tasbih has 33 or 99 beads, a Catholic rosary 59, Anglican prayer beads 33, an Orthodox prayer rope 33, 50 or 100 knots, a Hindu, Buddhist or Jain mala 108 and Bahá'í beads 95. Each number follows the prayer being counted, and the Sikh mala has no fixed count.
Prayer beads by religion: the comparison table
The number of beads on a string of prayer beads depends on the prayer it counts. A Muslim tasbih holds 33 or 99, a Catholic rosary 59, a Hindu, Buddhist or Jain mala 108, and Bahá'í beads 95. The table gives the usual count for each tradition, the variants in real use, and what one trip round the beads counts. Every figure comes from the tradition's own text or a reference work, linked in the sections below.
| Tradition | Name | Usual beads or knots | Other counts in use | One round counts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Islam | Misbaha, tasbih, subha | 99 or 33 | 100; some Sufi orders 100 or 200 | 99 on a 99-bead loop; the set after prayer is completed to 100 |
| Catholic Christianity | Rosary | 59 (53 small, 6 large) | Chaplets: their own counts | Five decades of 10 Hail Marys |
| Anglican and Episcopal | Anglican prayer beads | 33 and a cross | None common | Prayers of the person's own choosing, often three rounds |
| Lutheran (Sweden) | Wreath of Christ, Pearls of Life | 18 | None | One meditation per bead |
| Eastern Orthodox | Chotki, komboskini, prayer rope | 33, 50 or 100 knots | 150, 300, 500 | One Jesus Prayer per knot |
| Coptic and Ethiopian Orthodox | Mequteria | 41, 64 or 100 | None common | One Kyrie eleison per bead on the 41 |
| Hindu | Japa mala | 108 and a meru bead | 54, 27 | 108, or 100 credited in some lineages |
| Buddhist | Mala, juzu, nenju | 108 and a guru bead | 54, 27, 21, 18; 111 with counter beads | 100 credited in Tibetan practice |
| Jain | Mala | 108 | None common | 108, one per attribute of the five supreme beings |
| Sikh | Mala, simarni | No fixed count; 108 most often | 27, 29 | Not prescribed |
| Bahá'í | Prayer beads | 95 | 19 with five counters | Alláh-u-Abhá, 95 times a day |
The counts that rest on a written rule are few: the Bahá'í 95 is set by scripture, the 99 and 100 of the tasbih by hadith, and the 59 of the rosary follows its prayers bead for bead. Most of the others are custom, which is why the variants column is so full.
Why sources give different counts for the same beads
Most disagreements about bead counts come from what is counted, not from different beads. Nearly every strand carries pieces that mark a place rather than a prayer: the cross and centre medal of a rosary, the separators and leader bead of a tasbih, the guru bead of a mala, the counter strings of a Tibetan mala. Count them and the total rises; leave them out and it falls.
| Strand | Counting only prayer beads | Counting markers as well | Source of the difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tasbih, 99 | 99 | 100 to 102 with the separators and the leader bead | Encyclopaedia of Islam: three groups, two separator "imams" and a handle |
| Catholic rosary | 59 | 60 or 61 with the centre and the crucifix | The crucifix is held for the Creed, not counted |
| Mala | 108 | 109 with the guru bead; 111 with three marker beads | The guru bead is "not counted among the 108" (Yowangdu) |
| Tibetan mala | 108, credited as 100 | Up to 10,000 with the dorje and bell counters | Counters record rounds, not prayers |
| Orthodox rope | 33, 50 or 100 knots | Plus the marker beads every 10 or 25 knots | Beads mark a place; knots carry the prayers |
The second cause is real variety. Wikipedia's article on prayer beads contradicts itself on the Sikh mala, giving 108 beads in one section and 27 in another, and both figures are found in Sikh practice. The Orthodox prayer rope is "usually" 33 knots today in one account and historically 100 in another. Neither is wrong: they describe different ropes.
Islam: the misbaha or tasbih, 33 or 99 beads
A misbaha, also called a tasbih or subha, usually has 99 beads in three groups of 33, or 33 beads gone round three times. The groups match the dhikr recited after each obligatory prayer. In the report in Sahih Muslim 597, whoever says SubhanAllah 33 times, Alhamdulillah 33 times and Allahu Akbar 33 times, "these are ninety-nine", and completes the hundred with la ilaha illallah.
The Encyclopaedia of Islam entry summarised on Wikipedia gives the usual misbaha as 100 beads in three groups, separated by two distinct beads called imams, with a larger piece as the handle; smaller ones have 33. It notes that some link the 99-bead form to the 99 names of God, and that some scholars have held beads to be an innovation and allowed counting only on the fingers. Whether to use beads, fingers or a counter is a question for a person's own scholar.
What "one tasbeeh" means as a number, and the 33-33-34 and 33-33-33-plus-one forms of the set, are covered in tasbeeh counts explained.
Christianity: rosaries, chaplets, Anglican beads and prayer ropes
Christian prayer beads range from the Lutheran Wreath of Christ's 18 beads to Orthodox ropes of 300 knots, and each count follows a different prayer.
The Catholic rosary: 59 beads
A standard rosary has 53 small beads and 6 large beads, 59 in all, as Catholic Answers sets out in a 2022 reply to a reader who counted 51. The layout follows the prayers in the USCCB's order: the Apostles' Creed on the crucifix, an Our Father on the first bead, a Hail Mary on each of the next three, then five decades, each an Our Father and ten Hail Marys. A full set of twenty mysteries is the same five-decade loop gone round four times; the rosary counter's how-many section works out the Hail Marys for each form.
Chaplets use their own beads: the Franciscan Crown has seven decades, 72 Hail Marys in all, and the Chaplet of St Michael nine groups of three. The Chaplet of Divine Mercy is said on an ordinary rosary. Each has a counter of its own: the Franciscan Crown, the Seven Sorrows and the Divine Mercy chaplet.
Anglican prayer beads: 33 and a cross
Anglican prayer beads have a cross and 33 beads: one invitatory bead, four larger cruciform beads, and four groups of seven "week" beads. The circle may be gone round three times. They are recent: Aleteia, quoting an Episcopal parish, dates the design to the mid-1980s and describes it as blending the Orthodox prayer rope and the Catholic rosary. No prayers are prescribed.
The Lutheran Wreath of Christ: 18 beads
The Wreath of Christ, or Pearls of Life, was devised in 1995 by Martin Lönnebo, a Swedish Lutheran bishop, and has 18 beads, some round and some elongated. It is for meditation more than counting, so no prayer is repeated a set number of times.
The Orthodox prayer rope: 33, 50 or 100 knots
An Orthodox prayer rope, chotki in Russian and komboskini in Greek, is tied in knots rather than strung with beads, one Jesus Prayer to a knot. The common lengths are 33, 50 and 100 knots, with ropes of 150, 300 and 500 for longer rules; beads usually divide the knots every 10 or 25. Coptic and Ethiopian ropes, the mequteria, have 41, 64 or 100. The rope's invention is traditionally credited to St Pachomius in the fourth century. The prayer rope counter shows which rope suits which rule.
Hindu, Buddhist and Jain malas: 108 and its fractions
The japa mala used in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism has 108 beads, plus one larger bead that is not counted. Smaller malas usually keep a factor of 108: 54, 27 and 18, with 21 also used. The Japamala article cites the Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism for the reading that people have 108 afflictions, and says the explanations of the number are many while the number itself has stayed constant for centuries.
- Hindu. A 108-bead mala of tulsi beads is used in Vaishnava practice. The ISKCON movement, Prabhupada writes in The Nectar of Instruction, text 5, "prescribes sixteen rounds daily", and counts sixty-four rounds as one hundred thousand names.
- Buddhist. In Tibetan practice a round of 108 is credited as 100 recitations; a Tibetan guide to malas calls the extra eight "spare" for miscounts, and two counter strings of ten beads record up to 10,000. Japanese juzu in the Shingon, Tendai, Nichiren and Zen schools have 108 beads; Pure Land beads are often shorter, with 27 common, and Chinese malas of 18 beads are also used.
- Jain. The JAINA Education Committee's 108 attributes of the five supreme beings says the Jain mala "has 108 beads, which signify the 108 attributes": 12 of the Arihanta, 8 of the Siddha, 36 of the Acharya, 25 of the Upadhyaya and 27 of the Sadhu.
Whether a round is worth 100 or 108 changes how many rounds a large count takes, and the mala counter sets it out with the rounds needed for a lakh.
The Sikh mala: no fixed count
No Sikh text fixes the number of beads on a mala, and sources report several. The most often given is 108. Writing in Asia Samachar in 2021, Rishpal Singh Sidhu describes the woollen mala "used by some Sikh worshippers" with 108 knots and smaller malas of 29, and names the Namdhari and Nanakpanthi Sikhs among those who use one. Wikipedia, citing a 1918 study in Folklore, gives an iron wrist mala of 27 beads.
Whether to use a mala at all is debated among Sikhs. Bhagat Kabir's first salok, on Ang 1364 of the Guru Granth Sahib, opens "Kabīr merī simrnī rasnā ūpar rām", which SadhSangat's commentary glosses as praising the Almighty with the tongue being the turning of the rosary. A count, if one is kept, is set by the person's own practice.
Bahá'í prayer beads: 95, set by the Kitáb-i-Aqdas
Bahá'í prayer beads have 95 beads, or 19 beads with five counters, because the daily repetition they count is 95. Paragraph 18 of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas ordains that every believer shall each day, after washing the hands and face, sit facing God and repeat "Alláh-u-Abhá" ninety-five times. The text does not mention beads, so they are an aid and not a requirement. A 19-bead strand reaches 95 in five rounds, one counter moved for each round.
The beads are not the count: rounds for common totals
A loop of beads holds a round, not a total, and the commonest counting error comes from treating the two as the same. A 33-bead tasbih finishes at 99 after three rounds, one short of the hundred. A 33-knot rope gone round three times is 99 Jesus Prayers. A mala credited at 100 a round reaches a lakh 74 rounds sooner than one counted at 108.
| Count | Beads | Rounds | The step that gets missed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 after salah | 33-bead tasbih | 3 rounds and 1 bead | The hundredth, after 99 |
| 100 after salah | 99-bead tasbih | 1 round and 1 bead | The same |
| 20 rosary mysteries | 59-bead rosary | 4 rounds of the loop | Which mysteries are next |
| 500 Jesus Prayers | 100-knot rope | 5 rounds | None, if rounds are kept |
| 500 Jesus Prayers | 33-knot rope | 15 rounds and 5 knots | The five extra knots |
| 95 Alláh-u-Abhá | 19-bead strand | 5 rounds | Which round you are on |
| 16 rounds of the maha-mantra | 108-bead mala | 16 rounds, 1,728 mantras | The round count itself |
| 100,000 (one lakh) | 108-bead mala | 1,000 rounds credited at 100, or 926 at 108 | Which convention applies |
Simple Online Counter is a free, browser-based set of counters that keeps its counts in the browser's own storage. Its tasbeeh counter stops at a target such as 33, 99 or 100, and the rosary, mala and prayer rope counters each keep the bead, the round and the running total apart. Which count to keep, and how, belongs to each person's own tradition and teacher; a counter only holds the number.
Frequently asked questions
How many beads are on prayer beads?
It depends on the tradition. A Muslim tasbih has 33 or 99 beads, a Catholic rosary 59, Anglican prayer beads 33 and a cross, an Orthodox prayer rope usually 33, 50 or 100 knots, a Hindu, Buddhist or Jain mala 108, and Bahá'í beads 95 or 19 with five counters. Smaller malas of 54, 27 or 18 beads are also common in Buddhism.
How many beads are on a tasbih?
Usually 99 or 33. A 99-bead tasbih runs the 33 SubhanAllah, 33 Alhamdulillah and 33 Allahu Akbar said after prayer in one pass, with two separator beads between the thirds; a 33-bead tasbih is gone round three times. The set itself is completed to 100, so some loops have 100 beads, and the leader bead at the end is not counted.
Why does a rosary have 59 beads?
A Catholic rosary has 53 small beads for Hail Marys and 6 large beads for Our Fathers: five decades of ten Hail Marys on the loop, plus a short pendant of one Our Father bead, three Hail Mary beads and one more Our Father bead. The crucifix, where the Apostles' Creed is said, and the centre medal are not counted as beads.
Why do malas have 108 beads?
There is no single reason, and sources say so. Buddhist works link 108 to the 108 afflictions, or kleshas; Jain teaching links it to the 108 attributes of the five supreme beings. In Tibetan practice a round of 108 is credited as 100 recitations, the extra eight covering mistakes. The guru or meru bead, the 109th, is never counted.
How many knots are on an Orthodox prayer rope?
The common ropes have 33, 50 or 100 knots, often with a bead every 10 or 25 knots. Wikipedia gives 33 as the usual rope today, for the years of Christ's life, while OrthodoxWiki says the rope historically had 100. Ropes of 150, 300 and 500 knots exist, the long ones for monastics. Coptic and Ethiopian ropes have 41, 64 or 100.
How many beads are on Bahá'í prayer beads?
Ninety-five, or a strand of 19 beads with five counters that is gone round five times. The number comes from paragraph 18 of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, which asks each believer to repeat Alláh-u-Abhá ninety-five times a day after washing the hands and face. The text does not mention beads, so they are a common aid, not a requirement.
How many beads are on a Sikh mala?
There is no fixed number. 108 is the count most often given, and woollen malas of 108 knots are described, but sources also report 27-bead iron malas and smaller malas of 29 knots. Sikh opinion on using a mala at all is divided, and a line of Bhagat Kabir in the Guru Granth Sahib calls the tongue repeating the Name his rosary.
How many beads are on Anglican prayer beads?
Thirty-three beads and a cross: one invitatory bead next to the cross, four larger cruciform beads and four groups of seven week beads. The design dates from the mid-1980s in the Episcopal Church in the United States, and the loop is often gone round three times. There are no prescribed prayers; the person praying chooses them.
Do you count the big bead or the cross on prayer beads?
Usually not. The cross of a rosary or Anglican set, the centre medal, the leader bead of a tasbih and the guru bead of a mala mark where the round starts and ends and are not counted as prayer beads. Counter beads on Tibetan malas, the dorje and bell strings, are also extra. This is why the same strand is described with different totals.