Gulaal Gota : Tradition Of Celebrating Holi
In Jaipur, Rajasthan, the age-old tradition of celebrating Holi continues.
- This celebration involves the practice of “Gulaal Gota,” a unique tradition dating back around 400 years.
- Gulaal Gota is a small ball made of lac, filled with dry gulaal, and weighs around 20 grams when filled.
- Lac is a resinous substance that is secreted by certain insects.
- The female scale insect is one of the sources of lac.
- To produce 1 kg of lac resin, around 300,000 insects are killed.
- The lac insects also yield resin, lac dye and lac wax.
- It is used in various applications, including the production of lac bangles.
- The process of making Gulaal Gotas involves boiling lac in water to make it flexible, shaping it, adding colour, heating it, and then blowing it into a spherical shape with the help of a blower called “phunkni”.
- Lac, the primary raw material for Gulaal Gota, is sourced from Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.
- Gulaal Gotas are made by Muslim lac makers, known as Manihaars, in Jaipur, who learned lac-making from Hindu lac makers in Bagru, a town near Jaipur.
