Lac bangles are made from lac, the natural resin secreted by the lac insect, and in Mithila and wider north Bihar they are the hereditary work of the Laheri (Lakhera) caste. The bangle is built in two layers: a cheap core of refuse lac bulked with white clay, sheathed in a thin skin of fine, brightly pigmented lac. Worked warm, the resin is kneaded into a dough, rolled and pressed over wooden formers, then decorated with mirror chips, glass beads and gold foil, or swirled into the cloud-like marbled finish called abrikam.
The craft carries deep ritual weight as an emblem of suhag (marital good fortune): coloured lac bangles are part of a Maithil bride’s adornment, and the same artisans turn out lac sindurdans (vermilion containers) and small caskets given at weddings, objects tied to fertility and a long married life. Sitamarhi — especially Sursand — and Muzaffarpur are historic bangle centres, while Madhubani clusters are noted for lac bangles hand-painted with Mithila folk designs.
Today the trade survives on wedding-season and tourist demand but is squeezed by cheap glass, plastic and machine-made bangles, and many Laheri families have left the work. (Lac bangle-making is a craft of greater Bihar generally; what is distinctly Maithil is the Laheri community’s concentration in the Sitamarhi–Muzaffarpur–Madhubani belt and the bangles’ place in Maithil bridal custom.)
