Adjustable Mantra Ring 'Tonae'

Open silver band engraved with Sanskrit outside and a sutra inside

The outside is for others and the inside is for you. This wide open band is engraved on its outer face with three large Sanskrit syllables cut deep into a matte silver, and on its inner face with the whole of a short sutra in characters so small they read as a texture. The band is split at the back, and the split is what lets the sutra be read: turn the ring and the text goes round.

It is the ring in the collection with the most writing on it and the least of it visible, and the inner text is the reason to own it.

The name, Tonae, is to recite, to chant, and the sutra inside is the thing recited.

The band is sterling silver, stamped 925 inside the band, about 10 mm wide, with a brushed matte outer face and a smooth inner face. The outer syllables are engraved deep and darkened; the inner text is engraved fine and left bright.

Wear it on the index or middle finger, where a band this wide sits without turning, and on its own. It is a ring for either hand and for anyone, whatever the size option says; the two options are the same ring.

The three syllables on the outside are seed syllables, the single-letter names that stand for a deity in the esoteric schools, and they are the largest lettering on any ring here. The inner sutra is the short one every Japanese temple-goer knows.

From across a table it is a wide matte band with three dark marks. From close the syllables show their depth, the inside its lines of text, and the split its clean edge. It is the ring for a person who wants to carry a text and not explain it.

Every ring in the collection is photographed on the same pale ground at the same scale, so the pages compare with each other: what looks big here is big on the hand. The measurements given are taken across the face, not round the finger.

Silver darkens with time and skin, and this ring is meant to: the recesses are already blackened so the relief reads, and the high points polish themselves against your hand. Wipe with a soft cloth; a silver cloth brings the shine back when you want it. Take it off for the sea and the shower.

The band is open at the back, so one size fits most hands: slide it on, then press the ends gently together or apart to set it. It is meant to be adjusted a few times, not every day; find the size and leave it.