Holi 2023: Women of Peto village of Hazaribagh are making herbal gulal with natural colours. Fruits and flowers are being used to prepare this herbal gulal. For example, herbal gulal is prepared from spinach, palash flowers, marigold flowers, rose flowers, beetroot, jasmine oil, arrowroot, sandalwood and multani mitti. This Gulal is completely organic and chemical free, which does not harm the skin and eyes. Also, beauty products used in it like jasmine oil, sandalwood, Multani mitti etc. which are beneficial for the skin. It is available in Palash Mart of Abir JSLPS.
How is Gulal prepared?
The women of the group prepare a mixture by first boiling different types of flowers, leaves and fruits and grinding them in a grinder. Then mix it in arrowroot flour and knead it well and then spread it and dry it. After this it is ground well. After this, herbal gulal is prepared by adding sandalwood, nickel powder and a little natural perfume to it.
Later it is packed and sent for sale to Palash Mart, the purchase center set up at different locations of JSLPS. The price of a packet of herbal gulal weighing 150 grams has been fixed at Rs 90. The purchase orders in lots are also taken at these purchase centres.
Rakhi Devi, president of Gramin Seva Kendra Daru, says that apart from natural products, basil and lemon grass oil are also used in the manufacture of herbal colours. Abir Gulal manufactured by us under the brand Palash is being made available in the market for the last four years, which is being well received by the people. Apart from the festival, many types of products are processed and made available in the market during the rest of the year. With this, women are getting employment as well as economic strength to earn their livelihood.
Appreciating the efforts of the women’s group, Deputy Commissioner Nancy Sahai said that herbal gulal is completely prepared from fruits, flowers etc. and is a chemical free product obtained from nature. Due to this, many women have started getting employment as well as economic prosperity.