Rudrakshas Arrive from Nepal

Nepal is the major supplier of Rudraksha beads to the world, and we did a feature story about that in Hinduism Today last fall. The story was told by journalist and photographer Nikki Tapar, who flew to the valley where most of the trees are grown to discover the amazing details for the feature article. For instance, did you know that the sale of the beads represents fully 6% of the nation's Gross National Product? Or that a single bead sold at auction for $84,000?

Since we have the West's only Rudraksha Forest here at the monastery, we have a special interest in the trees and their fruits. Nikki sent us some Nepalese beads, and we discovered they are different than ours, lighter in color and somewhat more detailed in texture.

So, we commissioned Nikki to acquire seedlings. She flew back to the valley and bought 16 saplings, about 3 feet tall, carrying them back to her home in Kathmandu. She and Sadasivanathaswami went through some months of permitting, planning, and preparing the trees for the flight to Kauai.

They arrived at the monastery yesterday, and the box was unpacked. The tall saplings had been pruned short for the shipping, but we are assured they will recover soon and in about 4 years, we will have our first harvest of these special botanical gems. And make them available in the MiniMela.

At the end of the slideshow, there is a QR Code leading to the full magazine article.
Thank you, Nikki, for your amazing help (and tenacity) with this international exchange of DNA.

The cover shows why it\

s called the Blue Marble Tree.'

Nikki packs a seedling into coconut coir for the journey.

They look small, but they are about 3 years old.

She then wrapped them in burlap to keep the media in place during the flight.

Then into a box.

Three days later they are being unpacked at the monastery, having passed several levels of ag inspection, import paperwork, and more.

Paramacharya marvels at the care taken to assure their safe journey.

This photo is for Nikki.

Onto a pallet in the propagation area, under a giant Monkeypod Tree.

Safe at last.

The one in the middle was opened by the inspectors in Honolulu.

Scan the code to read Nikki\

s full story.'
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