The traditional occupation of the Lakheras is to make and sell bangles
and other articles of lac. Lac is regarded with a certain degree
of superstitious repugnance by the Hindus because of its red colour,
resembling blood. On this account and also because of the sin committed
in killing them, no Hindu caste will propagate the lac insect, and
the calling is practised only by Gonds, Korkus and other primitive
tribes. Even Gonds will often refuse employment in growing lac if
they can make their living by cultivation. Various superstitions
attach to the propagation of the insects to a fresh tree. This is
done in Kunwar (September) and always by men, the insects being
carried in a leaf-cup and placed on a branch of an uninfected tree,
usually the _kusum_. [84] It is said that the work should be done
at night and the man should be naked when he places the insects on
the tree. The tree is fenced round and nobody is allowed to touch
it, as it is considered that the crop would thus be spoiled. If a
woman has lost her husband and has to sow lac, she takes her son
in her arms and places the cup containing the insects on his head;
on arriving at the tree she manages to apply the insects by means of
a stick, not touching the cup with her own hands. All this ritual
attaches simply to the infection of the first tree, and afterwards
in January or February the insects are propagated on to other trees
without ceremony. The juice of onions is dropped on to them to make
them healthy. The stick-lac is collected by the Gonds and Korkus
and sold to the Lakheras; they clear it of wood as far as possible
and then place the incrusted twigs and bark in long cotton bags and
heat them before a fire, squeezing out the gum, which is spread out
on flat plates so as to congeal into the shape of a pancake. This is
again heated and mixed with white clay and forms the material for the
bangles. They are coloured with _chapra_, the pure gum prepared like
sealing-wax, which is mixed with vermilion, or arsenic and turmeric
for a yellow colour. In some localities at least only the Lakheras
and Patwas and no higher caste will sell articles made of lac.