1. Origin of the caste.
Kachera,[1] Kachāra (from kānch, glass).—The functional caste of makers of glass bangles. The Kacheras numbered 2800 persons in the Central Provinces in 1911, of whom 1800 were found in the Jubbulpore District. The caste say that in former times glass bangles were made only by Turk or Muhammadan Kacheras. The present name of Turkāri is probably derived from Turk. But when Gauri Pārvati was to be married to Mahādeo, she refused to wear the bangles made by a Turkāri. So Mahādeo constructed a vedi or furnace, and from this sprang the first Hindu Kachera, who was employed to make bangles for Pārvati. A later variant of the legend, having a sufficiently obvious deduction, is that Mahādeo did not create a man, but caught hold of a Kshatriya who happened to be present and ordered him to make the bangles. His descendants followed the new profession and thus came to be known as Kacheras. It is a possible conclusion from the story that the art of making glass bangles was introduced by the Muhammadans and, as suggested in the article on Lakhera, it may be the case that Hindu women formerly wore ornaments made of lac.