Lac Bangles
Once
in summer days I went to attend a marriage ceremony of my relative’s daughter
at Muzaffarpur district in North Bihar. Where I saw most of the women wearing
bangles of very vibrant color of some different materials. After some queries I
came to know that those are Lac bangles are made in small scale Industries at
Muzaffarpur itself. So after much persuasion I got some knowledge of its making
and marketing, accordingly I took the help of one of my acquaintance to go and
see the making of Lac bangles in nearby villages of Muzaffarpur. In that
intense heat that fellow helped me move around the villages where I saw small
children involved in making of the bangles which surprised me. At some places I
was not allowed to take pictures as children were involved but at some places
after many persuasions I was allowed.
These
lac bangles have some symbol of luck to Indian married women. It is made of
natural resin secreted by a tiny insect which are collected from Dhak and Kusum
trees and processed by the traditional craftsman. Lac shellacs are also sold in
bulk to the craftsmen for making bangles. Red Lac bangles (Gulali Chooda) also
denotes energy and prosperity and its different colors have different symbols
as green color (Hare Bandon Ka Chooda) signify fertility and good fortune,
yellow for happiness, orange for success, white is for new beginning in life
and so on. Pink (Gulabi Chooda) are worn during Holi festival. So red Lac
bangles are worn by married women and white and green for unmarried girls, as
per Hindu religion. These craftsmen also make Bajuband, rings, anklets, neck
less and all kinds of Lac jewelleries.
As it is
said that the first lac bangle was produced during Late Qutub Sahi period about
350 years ago. Slowly a small town in Uttar Pradesh took the baton in producing
bangles so this is also called bangles or glass city where each and every house
are involve in the glass bangles and different kind of molded glass items are also
made. Jaipur is another destination which also produces Lac bangles and lot of another
attractive crafts which are exported all over world.
Lac bangles
are skin soothing and don’t cause any infections or itchiness to the skin. To
keep the she clientele in good humor the Manihari women use to make the bangles
with different kinds beads like stone, crystals fancied by them and fitting in
the shapes and sizes.
Text and Photos by- Ashok Karan,
Ashokkaran.blogspot.com,
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