Mani Wall
The mani wall is a long, low wall of carved stone raised beside mountain paths, passes and villages across the Himalayan world, its blocks inscribed with the six-syllable mantra Om Mani Padme Hum and set in rows under a capping course of stones. The name comes from the first syllable of the mantra, which is the prayer of the bodhisattva of compassion Avalokiteshvara, and the walls are treated as sacred, so that travellers keep them on their right and walk past them clockwise, the direction of ritual circumambulation. Passing pilgrims and travellers add their own stones, carved or plain, so the