_Lakhera, Laheri._--The small caste whose members make bangles and
other articles of lac. About 3000 persons were shown as belonging to
the caste in the Central Provinces in 1911, being most numerous in the
Jubbulpore, Chhindwara and Betul Districts. From Berar 150 persons were
returned, chiefly from Amraoti. The name is derived from the Sanskrit
_laksha-kara_, a worker in lac. The caste are a mixed functional
group closely connected with the Kacheras and Patwas; no distinction
being recognised between the Patwas and Lakheras in some localities
of the Central Provinces. Mr. Baillie gives the following notice of
them in the _Census Report of the North-Western Provinces_ (1891):
"The accounts given by members of the caste of their origin are very
various and sometimes ingenious. One story is that like the Patwas,
with whom they are connected, they were originally Kayasths. According
to another account they were made from the dirt washed from Parvati
before her marriage with Siva, being created by the god to make bangles
for his wife, and hence called Deobansi. Again, it is stated, they
were created by Krishna to make bangles for the Gopis or milkmaids. The
most elaborate account is that they were originally Yaduvansi Rajputs,
who assisted the Kurus to make a fort of lac, in which the Pandavas
were to be treacherously burned. For this traitorous conduct they
were degraded and compelled eternally to work in lac or glass."