98 



The lac employed is ordinary shellac bought in the 

 local bazaars where also the needful pigments are 

 obtained. 



The preparation of the coloured lac is done by the 

 workpeople themselves in many workshops, and I was 

 fortunately able on one occasion to be present during 

 the making of a stick of red lac such as is used in 

 colouring red shakhas. For the vermilion that is 

 required, a quantity of the purplish red crystals of 

 hingol (cinnabar) is obtained. This is ground down to 

 a fine powder upon a disc-shaped stone of fine-grained 

 granite or gneiss by means of a pestle consisting of a 

 short stumpy pebble, roughly conical in shape (PI. X, 

 fig.i). One tola weight of cinnabar to three tolas' 

 weight of shellac is the proportion employed. When 

 the pigment has been sufficiently reduced, two-thirds of 

 the total amount of shellac requisite is first fashioned by 

 heat into the form of a small cup within which the 

 powdered cinnabar is placed, the remaining third of 

 shellac being warmed to pliability and then used to 

 close the aperture of the cup. The next stage is to 

 thoroughly amalgamate the contained powder with the 

 lac walls of the cup, a process calling forth a great 

 amount of dexterity. The whole mass is deftly rotated 

 over a charcoal fire till soft and pliable and then kneaded 

 thoroughly for a considerable time by the help of two 

 short sticks of the size and length of lead pencils. The 

 softened mass is twisted about over the fire and repeat- 

 edly "wound" from the end of one stick to that of the 

 other and back again, the operation being repeated till 

 incorporation be complete. The mass is then formed 

 into a pencil-shaped stick and is ready for use. 



In the lacquering of a bangle, a short segment of 

 the circle is heated over a small charcoal fire made in 

 the cavity of a wide shallow chatty, a portion of the 

 bangle being laid directly upon the glowing lumps of 

 charcoal. As soon as hot enouoh, the workman removes 

 the bangle and rubs a portion with the end of the thin 

 stick of lac. A short length only is covered at each 

 application as the bangle soon becomes too cool to melt 

 the lac sufficiently ; it is replaced upon the coals and 

 then a fresh segment is covered and so on till the whole 

 circumference has been worked over. In incised patterns 

 required to stand out red upon a white ground, this 



