Mala is Hindi (from Sanskrit) for "a string of beads" or "a garland." It had not entered the English language (at least in the US) by 1971, but has now arrived. Alternate names for the fad: Power beads, Energy beads.

  A special form of bead use is employed with strands of beads that are both sacred and perform the function of counting (usually prayers). The generic term for these is prayer strands.

  Hinduism is the oldest religion in the world, so it is appropriate that it is the first to have developed prayer strands. The japamala (muttering chaplet is first mentioned in the Atharvaveda of about 800 BC. It has 108 beads

  The Chinese Buddhist Su-zhu also has 108 beads, divided into four parts of 27 beads by beads of a different color, size, etc. The tassels at the ends are to allow one to keep track of how many cycles of prayers one has said.