Nirakar and One Mukhi Round Rudraksha.

February 22, 2006

mentioned about my qualifications for the reason that my present posting is

based on my own experience and critical scientific observations in Rudraksha. I

remember, when I was a active member of RBSC forum from 2002 to 2004, that the

earlier posting I had made regarding internal fruit structure of Rudraksha was

based on limited experience upto 8 mukhi. Earlier I was also of the opinion

that in Rudraksha, clefts are equal to locules ( I do not deny the rule).

However, in the last few years I noticed few interesting abnormalities as

mentioned in my posting below. If I notice any interesting observations, I

will communicate to you. The most beautiful and interesting part was of

'Internal Gauri Shankar nature of Higher Mukhi Rudraksha' reported for the

first time by Shri. Kamal Narayan Seetha. I still remember that informative

posting on RBSC with

beautiful black and white pictures of higher mukhi beads of his earlier

collections in 80s in support to his novel findings. The classic example of

'Carpellary fusion' phenomenon. The classical field of Biology is little

different from material sciences like Physics and Chemistry. As you all know,

rules in material sciences are more defined. However, in biology due to the

living systems there is possible variation in results. Sometimes it is

difficult to interprete. Only in the field of Molecular Biology (since it is

more related to Biochemistry) we have more defined laws to some extent. It is

said that 'No word in Science is final'. Acquiring knowledge is a continuous

process. There is always addition of knowledge in all the branches of science

and other subjects. Here in this magnificent group we have to share it freely

with

others. I give here an example of the recent posting by Shri. Arjunaji on

possible use of magnetic resonance to study internal fruit structure of

Rudraksha. I fully agree with Shri. Arjuna ji, if we could standardised the

technique, we can study the internal structures in more detail. Manual cutting

of beads and observations have no doubt limitations. I hope you will find my

posting informative.

--------------------------- This is in

connection with the 'Nirakar' and 'Round Ek Mukhi' shown on the website of

Neparudraksha by Shri. Mukunda Khatiwada. I have checked the pictures

thoroughly and have the following personal opinion. According to me both the

beads are genuine. I think, we have to consider here only external characters

since the theoratical rule: 'Total no. of clefts

show equal no. of locules' is not a universal rule in the genus Elaeocarpus.

In practice, there are exceptions to this rule. I still remember here

discussions on RBSC forum in the year 2002 by me, Mr. Suraj Raghavan, and

others on this important aspect. The genus Elaeocarpus lists at least 350

species world wide. In India we get only 29. In India we can get beads from

very few species (not more than 4 to 5 species). With my studies on limited

no. of species, I am giving few examples to support my findings as under.

OVAL THREE MUKHI : ( Indian Rudraksha ) Under this species we get three and

four mukhi oval beads. This species is more common in Haridwar and Deharadun.

We also get this species in Andaman and Nicobar

islands. I have collections from Haridwar and Andaman. Three mukhi oval

rudraksha shows only one well developed locule and a single seed inside it. In

addition to this locule the bead shows only two additional minute scars. This

type of beads do not show any rudimentary locules in slit form. Since I am a

botanist, I could locate these scars. A person who is not from the field of

botany would not be able to notice such scars in this species. In X-Ray

pictures such scars go unnoticed. Four mukhi beads under this species are

very rare and have similar internal characters as above. THE PERFECTLY ROUND

NEPAL TWO MUKHI : (Nepal Rudraksha) The Perfectly Round Nepal two mukhi

round bead does not show two locules and two

seeds in it. In this connection I agree with Mr. Siddhartha who has sent his

posting on Mr. Richard's forum. This type of bead is a developmetal

abnormality of the normal four mukhi Nepal bead. If cut transeversely, it

shows four locules and four seeds inside it. In X-Ray one can study this

character in more detail. Two mukhi Nepal beads come in two shapes. The

commonly available is perfectly round two mukhi, and the other is 'Pear fruit

shaped', similar to collector type Nepal 3 Mukhi. I have not either cut or

X-rayed Pear fruit type two mukhi. It is interestng to note that on few

reputed websites on Rudraksha, a beautiful perfectly round two mukhi bead is

shown. If you observe these pictures carefully, this two mukhi bead shows two

well developed clefts or mukhi and two more additional cuts which

are not fully developed. These immature cuts are at the right angle of the

well developed clefts. The two mukhi round bead shown there is definitely with

four locules inside. I have studied this type of beads personally from my

collection. If required, I will send images of the same on forum. I am not

challenging the round two mukhi nature of the bead on these websites since cuts

or clefts which are not fully developed are not considered as mukhi in

conventional rudraksha practice. INTERNAL STRUCTURES OF MULTI MUKHI RUDRAKSHA

BEADS : Theoratically, there is a general rule in the genus Elaeocarpus, that

the total no. of clefts have equal no. of locules, however, practically,

there are many abnormalities noticed as under. As we all

know, locules develop under the cleft and not in between the two clefts.

Theoratically, each such cleft should have a corresponding well developed

locule and a seed inside it. However, it is a common experience in higher

mukhi beads that few of the locules are not well developed (poorly developed)

or totally absent. Such poorly developed locules are seen as sterile slit like

structures and naturally without any seeds. Sometimes we can notice only poorly

developed scar instead of locules under the corresponding cleft. A person who

is not from the field of botany will not be able to notice these scars. The

higher mukhi beads are very commonly constricted in the central portion. Clefts

in this region are very close to each other. Rarely, two clefts share a single

wall. Considering seed dimensions of rudraksha, it is imposible to develop

healthy

corresponding locules for such clefts. It is unfortunate that people who talk

much about clefts and locules etc. have not studied it personally by cutting

higher mukhi beads. Most of their observations are based on superficial

studies on internal structures of 4 to 8 mukhi beads. The more the number of

clefts the more is the percentage of poorly developed locules, or scars or

total absence of locules/ scars as described above. I have also noticed that

many of the higher mukhi beads are 'Gauri Shankar' or 'Trijuti' inside. One can

easily see a small vertical partition/s from the hole on the top. If such beads

are observed from bottom side or tail region, one can notice two or three holes

of such fused beads. External wall of such beads is continuous giving the

false impression of one complete bead. In normal Gauri Shankar fusion line is

without any clefts.

Few years back, beautiful black and white pictures of such higher mukhi beads

showing Gauri Shankar characters inside were shown on RBSC forum of Rudra

Centre. These beads were from the collection of Shri. Kamal Narayan Seetha as

it was mentioned in the mail. If somebody wants to give stress on the internal

characters of rudraksha, then higher mukhi nature of such beads will not stand

on this yardstick. If we stress to consider external and internal

characters together, then the highly priced rarest 21 mukhi may turn to be a

combination of two to three lower mukhi beads inside. I am not critising

such beads and of course of the opinion that these beads should be considered

as higher mukhi beads based on its external characters. Botanically, this

phenomenon is called as 'Carpellary fusion'. I would

request the concerned students of rudraksha and website owners to spare some

higher mukhi beads ( 9 mukhi onwards) and study these characters critically

from their own collection and not to restrict their opinion on internal

structures of beads from 4 to 8 mukhi. X-Ray test may not be a full proof

solution since poorly developed locules and scars may go unnoticed in X-Rays.

X-Ray test in rudraksha (higher mukhi) appears very easy, however, it is

difficult to practice and to interprete the X-Ray images, especially of higher

mukhi beads. Personally, I practice it regularly for Valampuri Conch. The

inference is : Relation of clefts and locules is not a reliable test. There

are many developmental abnormalities like in three and two mukhi Nepal bead.

These findings are based on very few Elaeocarpus species studied out of 350

species worldwide. ROUND NEPAL EK MUKHI, DOES IT EXISTS ? I am of the

opinion that Yes, Round Ek Mukhi does exist. The best way to judge round Ek

Mukhi rudraksha (and also higher mukhi rudraksha) is to observe it critically

from its head and the tail region. It is not possible to make any artificial

changes in rudraksha stone character at these two ends. As we all know, in

fake Ek Mukhi rudraksha beads, clefts are sealed either with resins or by

pasteing small pieces of other rudraksha in the cleft region. Clefts are also

sometimes skillfully removed. One can not tamper the rudraksha in the head or

tail region. Tampered beads can easily be noticed at these two ends. To

check characters of Round Ek Mukhi, critically, there is a very simple test to

follow. One can imaginarily devide the bead in five or six equal sectors. Now

go on checking continuity of tubercled ornamentation or continuous rough

surface from one such imaginary sector to the other. Now, change the set of

imaginary sectors and repeat the procedure. In a authentic bead there is

overlapping of such continuous tubercled structures in different sectors. The

pictures of head and tail region of 'Nirakar Rudraksha' are excellent and does

not show any proof that the bead is tampered. The tubercled ornamentation or

in simple words rough surface of the bead is natural and is continuous. This

bead is likely to show five locules inside. If you observe extreme right hand

side image ( tail region of the bead) critically, it shows an elevated five

armed star like structure. Head image of this bead shows few poorly developed

cuts which are not

complete. Conventionally, such imperfect cuts are not counted as clefts, so we

need not consider such imcomplete cuts as mukhi. The Rudraksha is no doubt

the rarest, 'Zero Mukhi Bead'. In case of one mukhi bead it is necessary to

give images from head and the tail region to support the claim of one mukhi.

However, the side image gives the clear idea about its Ek Mukhi nature. This

bead is likely to show three to four locules inside. With my experience, two

mukhi perfectly round Nepal bead shows four locules inside. Such beads are

generally smaller in size. With my experience, large authentic (with above

tests) Ek mukhi Nepal bead shows four to five locules inside if X-Ray is taken.

It is important to note that Mr. Mukunda Khatiwada has not claimed that his

bead shows only one locule inside. Does not matter, the bead is

no doubt Ek Mukhi externally. A customer has to decide whether he should give

stress on external characters or both external and internal characters together.

People talking so much about clefts and locules etc. should also frankly

accept the fact that the PERFECTLY ROUND NEPAL TWO MUKHI does not exist and is

a developmental abnormality of a NORMAL FOUR MUKHI RUDRAKSHA. There can not

be double standards, for beads under description by Mr. Mukunda Khatiwada and

for the perfectly round two mukhi Nepal beads shown on few websites. I

personally accept both the beads i.e. round Ek Mukhi and the Round Two Mukhi

judging external characters critically. Sometimes I imagine, if I get, a

round Ek mukhi (internally) with only one locule and seed inside, but with

many clefts outside, what will be the reaction

? Shall I then call such Rudraksha as 'One Mukhi Round' or 'Multimukhi Round'

? Finally, to sum up Rudraksha biology is very interesting showing variety of

morphological abnormal characters. It also shows large abnormalities in

developmental biology of the varity of beads. As mentioned earlier, there are

approximately 350 species world wide. We know very few of them. Rudraksha

field is like the famous story of 'Five Blind Men and Elephant'. Thanking

you and with best wishes, Chandrashekhar Phadke Poona, India.

Jiyo cricket on India cricket

Messenger Mobile Stay in touch with your buddies all the time.

February 24, 2006

forum. This type of bead is a developmetal abnormality of the normal four mukhi

Nepal bead. If cut transeversely, it shows four locules and four seeds inside

it. In X-Ray one can study this character in more detail. Two mukhi Nepal

beads come in two shapes. The commonly available is perfectly round two mukhi,

It is not possible to have perfectly shaped round 2 Mukhi. I would like to see

one of that type. I would also request suppliers of Nepal if they are member of

this club to post a mail if they have ever sold perfectly round 2 mukhi bead.

A original 2 mukhi Nepali has to be a flattened bead and ovalish from the

north and south end. and the other is 'Pear fruit shaped', similar to

collector type Nepal 3 Mukhi. I have not either cut or X-rayed Pear fruit

type two mukhi. I have done it and it has two seeds inside. It is interestng

to note that on few reputed websites on Rudraksha, a beautiful perfectly round

two mukhi bead is shown. Sir pl let me know which website has displayed

perfectly round 2 mukhi bead. I want to yet see a perfectly round 2 mukhi

Rudraksha of Nepali origin. If you observe these pictures carefully, this two

mukhi bead shows two well developed clefts or mukhi and two more additional

cuts which are not fully developed. This is not 2 Mukhi bead you are refering

to. It is a four mukhi under developed bead. We cannot call it a 2 mukhi round

bead. How many beads out of 50 two mukhis you think will have such a physical

appearance . May be 2 or 3 thats all. Now for these 2 or 3 beads we have

generated a completely new class of

Rudraksha and we have even given them a name also as 'PERFECTLY ROUND TWO MUKHI

RUDRAKSHA OF NEPALI ORIGIN. Pl tell Mr. Phadke is it right thing what we are

doing ? These immature cuts are at the right angle of the well developed

clefts. The two mukhi round bead shown there is definitely with four locules

inside. Yes I agree to you. Sir pl tell me if we cut 100, 4 mukhi beads, how

many do you think in your opinion will be having 4 seeds out of 100 and how

many will be having 3 seeds or 5 seeds. Pl answer this. I have studied this

type of beads personally from my collection. If required, I will send images

of the same on forum. I would be very grateful if you could send the pictures.

I am not challenging the round two mukhi nature of the bead on these websites

since cuts or clefts

which are not fully developed are not considered as mukhi in conventional

rudraksha practice. Sir have you noticed that when a rudraksha is eaten away by

insects, the outer body remains almost intact and the insects actually attack

the seed part of it. We normally do not come to know untill we critically

observe the bead for some powder like substance from it. Now if you try to put

thread inside such beads the rudraksha breaks into two halves because it has

become very weak from the centre and we see that all the seeds are almost eaten

away by this insects. In this also the seats where the seedsa are placed even

they are intact but the seeds are eaten away. The rudraksha becomes quite light

in weight and it is just like a piece of wood with no energy levels. So we must

understand that the seeds form a very very important part of any Rudraksha.

With my experience I can vouch that when we cut laterally around

100 five Mukhi Rudrakshas of reasonably good quality NEPALESE origin, we

found 88 rudrakshas had clear 5 seeds inside corresponding to their mukhs. The

balance 12 had overlapping seeds inside, appearing to be 4 seeds but when we

went into more detail and saw them under microscope we noticed that the fifth

seed is actually overlapping on one of the well developed seed. This was no

doubt a 5 th seed inside the Rudraksha. It may be small or very small but it

was present, so we cannot call this particular Rudraksha as four Mukhi since it

has one under developed seed inside. Similarly a 4 Mukhi rudraksha with under

developed 3 seeds cannot be called as 1 Mukhi Rudraksha, It will remain a four

Mukhi only. Few Nepali suppliers have collected these 4 Mukhi Rudrakshas which

have three faces either artificially cut or the seed has developed natually in

such a way that only one mukh is clear and other 3 mukhs have

just started to form from the root and the tip but could not form completely .

Now they are selling that bead as 1 mukhi round Rudraksha which is not correct

and it is a sin. Why cant we select those beads which are completely formed and

there is no element of doubt in them. Why we are hovering our discussions to

those few beads which are not formed completely and from whom innocent devotees

can be befooled, and giving them with our stupid logics that they are round 1

mukhi or we can consider them to be round 1 mukhi. Why I should consider this

bead as 1 mukhi round, there should not be any such vague considerations, I

want a clear answer whether it is 1 mukhi or not . Lets help and guide

devotees to choose to correct bead by virtue of our experience and knowledge.

lets not confuse them. Thanks, Siddharthchandrashekhar phadke

<chphadke (AT) (DOT) co.in> wrote: Respected Shri. Richard ji and friends, I am

very sorry that I am little late in sending this posting on the forum since I

wanted to make it more informative. There was also some server problem. I

am of the opinion that we all gathered here for the exchange of knowledge in

the field of sacred items. It is likely that we may be having different

opinions, however, exchange of thoughts always is a addition to the knowledge.

By profession, I am working as a senior scientist in the field of Plant

Biotechnology. I am in the research field since last 30 years. I did my M.Sc.

(1975) and Ph.D.(1984) in Botany (Mycology) from

the University of Poona, India. I did my postdoc in the field of Plant

Biotechnology at Wye College, Near Ashford, Kent, England in 1991 and 1994. I

also have one US Patent at my credit. I have mentioned about my qualifications

for the reason that my present posting is based on my own experience and

critical scientific observations in Rudraksha. I remember, when I was a active

member of RBSC forum from 2002 to 2004, that the earlier posting I had made

regarding internal fruit structure of Rudraksha was based on limited experience

upto 8 mukhi. Earlier I was also of the opinion that in Rudraksha, clefts are

equal to locules ( I do not deny the rule). However, in the last few years I

noticed few interesting abnormalities as mentioned in my posting below. If I

notice any interesting observations, I will communicate to you. The most

beautiful and

interesting part was of 'Internal Gauri Shankar nature of Higher Mukhi

Rudraksha' reported for the first time by Shri. Kamal Narayan Seetha. I still

remember that informative posting on RBSC with beautiful black and white

pictures of higher mukhi beads of his earlier collections in 80s in support to

his novel findings. The classic example of 'Carpellary fusion' phenomenon.

The classical field of Biology is little different from material sciences like

Physics and Chemistry. As you all know, rules in material sciences are more

defined. However, in biology due to the living systems there is possible

variation in results. Sometimes it is difficult to interprete. Only in the

field of Molecular Biology (since it is more related to Biochemistry) we have

more defined laws to some extent. It is said that 'No word in Science is

final'.

Acquiring knowledge is a continuous process. There is always addition of

knowledge in all the branches of science and other subjects. Here in this

magnificent group we have to share it freely with others. I give here an

example of the recent posting by Shri. Arjunaji on possible use of magnetic

resonance to study internal fruit structure of Rudraksha. I fully agree with

Shri. Arjuna ji, if we could standardised the technique, we can study the

internal structures in more detail. Manual cutting of beads and observations

have no doubt limitations. I hope you will find my posting informative.

--------------------------- This is in

connection with the 'Nirakar' and 'Round Ek Mukhi' shown on the website of

Neparudraksha by Shri. Mukunda Khatiwada. I have checked the pictures

thoroughly and have the

following personal opinion. According to me both the beads are genuine. I

think, we have to consider here only external characters since the theoratical

rule: 'Total no. of clefts show equal no. of locules' is not a universal rule

in the genus Elaeocarpus. In practice, there are exceptions to this rule. I

still remember here discussions on RBSC forum in the year 2002 by me, Mr. Suraj

Raghavan, and others on this important aspect. The genus Elaeocarpus lists at

least 350 species world wide. In India we get only 29. In India we can get

beads from very few species (not more than 4 to 5 species). With my studies on

limited no. of species, I am giving few examples to support my findings as

under. OVAL THREE MUKHI : ( Indian Rudraksha

) Under this species we get three and four mukhi oval beads. This species is

more common in Haridwar and Deharadun. We also get this species in Andaman and

Nicobar islands. I have collections from Haridwar and Andaman. Three mukhi

oval rudraksha shows only one well developed locule and a single seed inside

it. In addition to this locule the bead shows only two additional minute

scars. This type of beads do not show any rudimentary locules in slit form.

Since I am a botanist, I could locate these scars. A person who is not from

the field of botany would not be able to notice such scars in this species. In

X-Ray pictures such scars go unnoticed. Four mukhi beads under this species

are very rare and have similar internal characters as above. THE

PERFECTLY ROUND NEPAL TWO MUKHI : (Nepal Rudraksha) The Perfectly Round

Nepal two mukhi round bead does not show two locules and two seeds in it. In

this connection I agree with Mr. Siddhartha who has sent his posting on Mr.

Richard's forum. This type of bead is a developmetal abnormality of the normal

four mukhi Nepal bead. If cut transeversely, it shows four locules and four

seeds inside it. In X-Ray one can study this character in more detail.

Two mukhi Nepal beads come in two shapes. The commonly available is perfectly

round two mukhi, and the other is 'Pear fruit shaped', similar to collector

type Nepal 3 Mukhi. I have not either cut or X-rayed Pear fruit type two

mukhi. It is interestng to note that on few reputed websites on Rudraksha, a

beautiful perfectly round two mukhi bead is shown. If you observe these

pictures carefully, this two mukhi bead shows two well developed clefts or

mukhi and two more additional cuts which are not fully developed. These

immature cuts are at the right angle of the well developed clefts. The two

mukhi round bead shown there is definitely with four locules inside. I have

studied this type of beads personally from my collection. If required, I will

send images of the same on forum. I am not challenging the round two mukhi

nature of the bead on these websites since cuts or clefts which are not fully

developed are not considered as mukhi in conventional rudraksha practice.

INTERNAL STRUCTURES OF MULTI MUKHI RUDRAKSHA BEADS : Theoratically, there is

a general rule in

the genus Elaeocarpus, that the total no. of clefts have equal no. of locules,

however, practically, there are many abnormalities noticed as under. As we all