Black Sanskrit Ring for Men 'Bonji'

Black steel band ring engraved with a Sanskrit mantra in pale letters

Six syllables round a black band. This slim ring is a stainless steel band in a matte black finish with a bevelled edge on each side, and around the outside, in pale letters cut through the black, the six syllables of the Sanskrit mantra that is carved on stones and turned in wheels across the Buddhist world. The letters are small, evenly spaced, and the only thing on the ring.

It is the plainest ring in the collection with writing on it, and the black is the point: the letters show because the band does not.

The name, Bonji, is the Japanese word for the Sanskrit script, the Siddham letters used in temple inscriptions, and the ring is written in it.

The band is stainless steel with a black coating bonded to it, about 6 mm wide with a flat outer face and bevels that catch a line of light at each edge. The letters are engraved through the coating so the pale steel shows, and the coating is hard enough to take daily wear.

Wear it on any finger; at 6 mm it sits as easily on the little finger as the index. It goes on its own or stacked with a plain band, and it is a ring for either hand and for anyone, whatever the title says.

The mantra is the six-syllable one, and it reads round the band in order, so a person who knows it can follow it with a turn of the finger. It is a mantra of compassion, and on a ring it is a reminder rather than a display.

From across a table it is a black band. From close the letters show their pale strokes, the bevels their line of light, and the black its matte. It is the ring for someone who wants the mantra with them and nobody else to notice.

Steel does not tarnish, does not turn a finger green and does not mind water, so this ring can be worn in the shower and the sea and wiped dry after. A soft cloth is all the care it needs; the black is a coating and it lasts, though it will show a scratch in time.

Sizes are given as the inside circumference in millimetres: 54.5, 57, 59.5, 62, 64.5. Wrap a strip of paper round the finger where the ring will sit, mark where it meets, and measure the strip flat. If you are between two sizes and the ring is wide, take the larger; a wide band needs more room than a thin one.