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Lac Dye an important export item of Bengal from ancient times but ceased to be so from the mid-nineteenth century. Lac dye, commonly known as 'Bengal Lac' in foreign countries, was highly valued in England during the early phase of its industrial revolution. It was used in colouring textiles and other products. Lac constituted a valuable item in the export cargoes of the East India Companies of maritime Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Lac dye was produced from several types of trees suitable
for culturing lac worms. The lac cultivators used to culture lac worms
in select twigs of particular trees. After a time the twigs were heavily
infected by the sticky juice of worms and became red, pink or purple according
to the nature of seed worms. The infected coloured twigs released all
the colours. A small quantity of alum was added to the filtered solution.
Then the solution was evaporated. The colour sediments were pasted into
cakes of various sizes. Like the textile weavers, the lac cultivators
were also engaged by foreigners to produce lac dye for them. But lac lost
its world market with the invention of synthetic dyes in mid-nineteenth
century. But its local use lasted till the early twentieth century. Lac
was also produced in Burma and south India. But among foreign buyers Bengal
Lac was in the greatest demand. Lac was exported both in twigs packed
in gunny bags and in the cake form. Twig-Lac was obviously cheaper than
cake-Lac. [Md Johir Uddin] |
