Traders fear the number of fakes will go up this month, as the government starts levying a two percent tax on the sale of the berry.

Last year, the trade in genuine rudrakshas crossed 100 million Nepali rupees.

Dealer Mukunda Khatiwada, whose family has been in the business for nearly 40 years, welcomes the tax but says the government should also take steps to crack down on fakes and restore credibility.

'There should be certified authentic dealers, like in the gem trade,' he says. 'They should issue certificates of authenticity as well as buy-back guarantees to buyers.'

Khatiwada's Nepa Rudraksha caters mostly to Indians, especially non-resident Indians (NRIs).

A trader who runs a rudraksha shop on the grounds of the Pashupatinath temple says it would be impossible to stop the trade in fake rudrakshas.

'I sell duplicates,' he says on condition of anonymity. 'My clients are mostly middle-class Indian tourists who come to the temple. How can they afford to shell out lakhs to buy a single bead? If I kept only genuine ones, I would go out of business.'

The gullibility of the pilgrims as well as their lack of knowledge about the beads makes it easy for the fake business to thrive, he says.

'Only a trained eye that has been examining the beads for years can distinguish between a fake and a genuine rudraksha,' he says.

'You can't subject rudrakshas to laboratory tests. Such tests would alter their appearance and properties.'

(Sudeshna Sarkar can be contacted at sudeshna.s@ians.in)