Prayer beads are a form of beadwork used to count the repetitions of prayers, chants, or mantras by members of various religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Shinto, Umbanda, Islam, Sikhism, the Baháʼí Faith, and some Christian denominations, such as the Roman Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and the Eastern Orthodox Churches. Common forms of beaded devotion include the mequteria in Oriental Orthodox Christianity, the chotki or komposkini or prayer rope in Eastern Orthodox Christianity, the Wreath of Christ in Lutheran Christianity, the Dominican rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Roman Catholic Christianity, the dhikr in Islam, the japamala in Buddhism and Hinduism, and the Jaap Sahib in Sikhism.
The image depicts several Christian prayer beads; from left to right are a Roman Catholic Dominican rosary, a Lutheran Wreath of Christ, a set of Anglican prayer beads, a Western Christian Pater Noster cord, and a Coptic Orthodox mequteria.
A misbaha, a device used for counting tasbih
Anglican prayer beads
Oriental Orthodox mequteria of 41 beads
The Rosary, also known as the Dominican Rosary, refers to a set of prayers used primarily in the Catholic Church, and to the physical string of knots or beads used to count the component prayers. When referring to the prayer, the word is usually capitalized ; when referring to the prayer beads as an object, it is written with a lower-case initial letter.
La Visione di San Domenico (The Vision of Saint Dominic), Bernardo Cavallino, 1640
An Egyptian, Coptic-style rosary featuring an extra Coptic crucifix
Our Lady of Lourdes appearing at Lourdes with rosary beads
A single-decade rosary