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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
89 an abundance of common squirrels in Rajasthan every where and we often see tham frolicing all over the place. To obtain the hair of their tail-end, the first and foremost is to encage the animal. Than it is released through a cloth bag which is held at the month of the cage. It is then held in the right hand and after wetting the tail end the hair is clipped of with a scissors and preserved in paper packets. These packets are then opened on the day of the Dawat Puja or the Chopda Pujan day before Diwali. After the traditional Puja the work of tying the brushes starts.
Brush making is also an art where experience counts. Bunches of squirrel hair preserved earlier are once again wetted and the bristles are tied togather in a single knot and moved on the thumb nail of the left hand and rolled to detect if any hair gets split out. The excess ones are removed and by frequent rolling the bristles on the thumb nail desired quantity is tied in a double knot. The same procedure is followed twice to get the correct amount of hair and the point. Then a final knot is tied at the other end of the bunch of hair.
To fix this bunch of hair we require a holder. Therefore, the quill of a pigeon feather, called Pergaza , the translucent front portion of a feather, is cut and dipped in water over might. By this method it gets loose and does not break. Then the point of the plait of hair is tied with a string which is passed through
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