Monk disciplinarians use heavy leather whips to enforce discipline in the monasteries. The whip is made of leather stripes which are braided to form a solid handle at the top part and the stripes are left free in the lower half. The whip is hit on the wooden floor to give signals and also used to punish monks. Sacred mantras and substances are inserted in the whip to give it a spiritual power to cleanse those who are hit with it of impurities.