Choose a mantra
Press the mantra at the top of the Japa view, or open Mantras, and pick one of thirty in their own script, with a transliteration and a plain meaning. Add your own in any script with Add your own.
Digital MalaFree Japa Mala Counter
A 108-bead mala you count by tapping or pulling the beads, turning at the Meru, with thirty mantras in their own script, a pace guide, writing japa, sankalpa vows, and the sandhya times and lunar days for your place, with nothing uploaded.
Japa
0
of 108
Tap the mala, or pull the beads to the left
0Malas
0Today
0:00Time
0A minute
Count by
Count for meOff: the beat only guides you, and you tap.
Breath guideThe circle grows as you breathe in and shrinks as you breathe out.
Say the mantraA voice on your device reads it aloud on each bead.
This sitting
Your sitting starts with the first bead.
Japa0
Malas0
Chanting time0:00
Last mala took-
Target for this sitting
Sankalpa today
Today
Set your place under Practice to see today's sandhya times and lunar day.
About this mantra
Mantras
Choose what to chant. Open a mantra to read its meaning, where it comes from and how much you have chanted it.
No mantra matches. Try fewer letters, or add it as your own.
Practice
Take a sankalpa, a vow to complete a number of japa in a number of days, and see today's share. Find the sandhya times from the sunrise at your place and the coming Ekadashi, Pradosh, Purnima and Amavasya.
Sankalpa
A sankalpa is a promise to yourself, such as 1,25,000 Gayatri japa in 40 days. Digital Mala works out how many to chant each day and keeps count.
Completed and ended
Sandhya times
The steps of sandhya vandanam, in short
- Achamana. Sip water three times with the names of Vishnu: Achyuta, Ananta, Govinda.
- Pranayama. Regulate the breath while saying the Gayatri with the seven worlds (vyahritis).
- Sankalpa. Say the time, the place and the purpose of the practice.
- Marjana. Sprinkle water on yourself with the verses Apo hi shtha mayobhuvah.
- Arghya. Offer water to the Sun three times, each with the Gayatri.
- Gayatri japa. Commonly 108 times, or 28, or at least 10.
- Upasthana. Pray to the Sun (to Mitra at dawn, to Varuna at dusk) and to the directions, then close with your abhivadana.
The words and order differ between Vedic schools and families. Follow what your elders or your teacher taught you.
The three sandhyas follow the Sun: dawn, noon and dusk. Choose your place to see the day's times worked out from its sunrise.
Lunar days
A day takes the tithi running at its sunrise, and Pradosh the tithi at sunset. Calendars can differ by a day when a tithi starts or ends close to sunrise, and fasting rules vary, so check your own panchang for vrat days.
Choose your place to see the lunar days.
Daily reminder
Web pages cannot wake your phone at a set time, but your calendar can. This saves a calendar file with a daily event and an alert; open it and your calendar app adds it.
Journey
Every bead you count is kept on this device: your days, your streak, each sitting and each mantra.
The last twelve months
Japa a day, last 30 days
When you chant
By mantra
Sittings
No sittings yet. Your first one appears here when it ends.
Settings
Changes are saved at once in this browser.
Your mala
Beads
Thread
Beads in one mala
Turn back at the MeruThe custom of not crossing the guru bead: at the end of a mala you turn it round and go back.
Knots between beads
View
Counting
Pull the beads to countSlide a finger to the left across the mala and every bead you pull counts.
Shake to countA firm flick of the phone counts one bead.
Earbud and headset buttonsPlay, pause or next counts a bead, previous undoes one. Works while this page is open; the volume buttons cannot be used by web pages.
Vibration
Keep the screen onWhile you are counting, and for three minutes after the last bead.
Sound
Bead clickSounds like the beads you chose.
At the end of each mala
Drone to chant over
Display
Big numbers
Count digits
Show the transliterationThe mantra in Latin letters under its own script.
Light and dark follow the site's theme button at the top right of the page.
Your place
Not setUsed only on this device, for sunrise, sunset and the lunar day.
Your data
Everything is kept in this browser on this device.
Delete everythingEvery count, sitting, sankalpa, written page and setting of Digital Mala.
Keys while you use the tool: with the mala selected Space counts; J counts and Backspace takes one back.
How to Use Digital Mala
Count the beads
Tap the mala for each chant, or pull the beads to the left as you would with your thumb. On a keyboard, select the mala and press Space or Enter; Backspace takes one back. The bead under the small mark is the one in your hand.
Turn at the Meru
When the mala is complete, the Meru with its tassel comes round and a bell rings. By custom the mala then turns and you go back the way you came. A target in malas and a sitting timer are beside the mala.
Pace, write or focus
Pace sets a steady beat with a breath circle and can count for you. Writing counts each mantra you write on the pad and keeps the pages in a notebook. Focus fills the screen in black: tap anywhere to count.
Take a sankalpa
On Practice take a sankalpa, such as 1,25,000 japa in 40 days. Each day shows its share, worked out again from what is left. Choose your place to see the sandhya times and the coming lunar days.
Look back
Journey shows twelve months of practice as a calendar, the last 30 days, the hours you chant, each mantra and every sitting with its note. Save the sittings or the days as CSV files, or a picture to share.
Why Use Digital Mala?
📿 A mala that feels like one
The beads lie in a loop seen in perspective, in rudraksha, tulsi, sandalwood, crystal and six more materials, on a red, saffron or kalava thread. The bead in your hand sits at the front and each one you count moves on, with a click that sounds like the beads you chose.
🔁 The Meru kept
The guru bead with its tassel comes round at the end of every mala and is not crossed: the mala turns and you go back, as many families and teachers ask. If your custom is different, the turn can be switched off.
🕉️ Mantras in their own script
Thirty mantras of Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh and Jain practice in Devanagari, Gurmukhi, Tibetan, Chinese and Japanese, in a type made for Sanskrit, each with a transliteration, a plain meaning and where it comes from.
✍️ Likhita japa too
Writing a mantra again and again is a practice of its own. Write on the pad with a finger or a pen and each one counts; the pages fill a notebook of 108 a page that you can save as pictures.
🌅 Your sunrise, your lunar days
The sandhya times come from the sunrise, noon and sunset at your place, and the tithi from the Moon and the Sun themselves, both worked out on your device, so they hold wherever you live.
🔒 Nothing uploaded
There is no account. Every count, sitting, sankalpa and written page stays on your device, kept in this browser between visits, and a backup file moves it all to another browser.
Japa, Malas and Lunar Days Explained
📿 Why 108 beads
A japa mala has 108 beads and one larger bead, the Meru or guru bead, where the counting begins and ends. One round of the mala is one mala of japa. Many traditions also use malas of 54 or 27 beads, counted twice or four times for 108, and Sikh simarani often have fewer.
🌙 Tithi and the day
A lunar day, the tithi, lasts while the Moon gains 12 degrees on the Sun, so it can be shorter or longer than a solar day and can start at any hour. A panchang names each day by the tithi running at its sunrise, which is why the same Ekadashi can fall on different dates in different cities.
🪔 Sankalpa and purashcharana
A sankalpa is a resolve said at the start of a practice: the time, the place and what you will do. A large count such as 1,25,000 japa of a mantra in a set number of days is a traditional purashcharana; Digital Mala keeps the count and the share for each day.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Digital Mala free, and is anything uploaded?
It is free, with no registration. Like every page on ZeroDataUpload, it is supported by advertising. Your counts, sittings, sankalpas, written pages, place and settings stay on your device: they are kept in this browser between visits and never sent to a server. Delete everything, under Settings, removes them.
How do I count?
Tap the mala, or pull the beads to the left with a finger as you would with your thumb; every bead you pull counts. With the mala selected, Space or Enter counts, and J or the right arrow also count while you use the tool; Backspace takes back the last bead. Pace counts for you at a steady beat, Writing counts each mantra you write on the pad, and earbud buttons or a firm flick of the phone can count too, under Settings. Focus fills the screen: tap anywhere.
What happens at the Meru?
When a mala of 108 (or 54, 36, 27 or 21) is complete, the larger guru bead with its tassel comes round, a bell rings and the count shows the mala done. By the custom of not crossing the Meru, the mala then turns and you go back the way you came; you can switch the turn off under Settings. Your sitting, its malas and its time are kept in Journey.
How are the sandhya times worked out?
From sunrise, solar noon and sunset at the place you choose, worked out in your browser from the positions of the Sun. They use the common reckoning of a muhurta as 48 minutes: Brahma muhurta is the second muhurta before sunrise, Pratah sandhya the muhurta before sunrise, Madhyahna half a muhurta either side of noon, and Sayam sandhya the muhurta after sunset. Times are on the place's own clock.
How does it find Ekadashi, Pradosh, Purnima and Amavasya?
A tithi is each 12 degrees the Moon gains on the Sun, thirty to a lunar month. A day takes the tithi running at its sunrise at your place, and Pradosh takes the tithi at sunset. Calendars can differ by a day when a tithi starts or ends close to sunrise, and traditions keep fasts by different rules, so check your own panchang or temple calendar for vrat days.
Where do the mantras and their meanings come from?
The thirty mantras are the common published texts in their own script, with a transliteration and a plain meaning, and a note on where each comes from, such as Rig Veda 3.62.10 for the Gayatri. The notes say what tradition holds and promise nothing. Pronunciation and the form of a mantra differ between schools: follow what your teacher or your elders taught. You can add your own mantra in any script.
How is Digital Mala different from Sun and Moon, Prana and the Clock?
Sun and Moon is a full almanac: sunrise, twilight, the Moon and a daily panchang with nakshatra, yoga and karana. Digital Mala uses the same astronomy only for the sandhya times and the coming lunar days of your practice. Prana is a breathing tool with fifteen techniques; Digital Mala's breath guide is a circle that follows the pace of your chant. The Clock's timer counts down anything; Digital Mala's sitting timer sounds a bowl while you keep counting.