The world is going ‘royal’ in the real Pink City style on this Holi. Many non-resident Indians (NRIs) in Europe, Middle East and USA will play Holi with the famous gulal gota made of lac and filled with eco-friendly arrarote gulal.

The trend has got the fancy of many in Jaipur, as people bored of throwing water balloons on each other have cling to the eco-friendly way of playing Holi with gulal gota.

“The gulal gota has become famous world over now and people have already taken it to the various western countries for Holi this year. Now we are busy making the gulal gota for Brij ki Holi and for the requirement of city palace in Jaipur,” said Avaz Mohammad, the head of the lone Maniyar family making the traditional gulal gota for the royal family of Jaipur for centuries now.   

The gulal gota is made of kusum lac, the high-quality resin product obtained from a tree, which is molded in various shapes mostly small rounded bowls.

These bowls are filled with the arrarote gulal, also a eco-friendly colour powder obtained from herbal product and sealed to the perfection. The lac-made gulal gota is so tender that it is kept on the soap stone powder in small boxes.

The lac art dates back to the Mahabharat time when a palace of lac was created for Pandavas and Draupadi calling Duryodhana a blind as he could not differentiate between real fruit and lac-made resembling artefacts.

The Maniyar artisan making the gulal gota were bought by Maharaja Jai Singh, who made them settle in Maniyaro Ka Rasta, Jaipur. For the last eight generation these families are making lac bangles for queens and gulal gota on Holi for the royal family of Jaipur.

The gulal gota were used by the maharajas during the Holi procession during their times.

But now the craze of eco-friendly Holi is catching up fast among the NRIs and rich Indians and the gulal gota has become an important part of Holi among celebrities too. “Brij ki Holi is played with the gulal gota in Jaipur. We have also got huge orders from Delhi and Mumbai this year for gulal gota,” Avaz Mohammad’s son Javed said.

Avaz Mohammad, Gulal gota maker

"Gulal gota has become famous world over now and people have already taken it to the various western countries for Holi this year.”

Arvind Singh/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication