In India all around us is evidence of a vibrant relationship with fragrances that goes back centuries. India is home to over 18,000 varieties of aromatic plants, and their flowers, leaves, roots, seeds and bark have been used variously for healing and for the simple pleasure of fragrance. Like the French concept of terroir, that informs their wine and foods, the provenance of these botanicals is important. Each of them has a home within the country, a certain state where it grows best. A trip from north to south covers some of the most distinct Indian fragrances.
Beginning in the far northern state of Jammu and Kashmir there is saffron, whose earthy colour and distinct perfume can be so comforting. In Sanskrit writings dating back to 900CE where the diverse origins of valuable aromatics are described, saffron is said to be from the North and one of its synonyms tellingly, was ‘kasmira’ (Kashmiri). The most labour-intensive and expensive spice, it has all colour, taste and fragrance concentrated in the pistils which must be separated and graded by hand. Though in the Indian context saffron is used mainly for flavour and colour, in desserts or drinks like kehwa, the extract smells beautifully warm, herbal and spicy.
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A few hundred kilometres down, the country’s largest state, Uttar Pradesh, is home to India’s rose fields. The fragrance of this much-loved flower needs no introduction of course; it is ingrained in our collective consciousness. Rose water and oil, which was famously discovered during the Mughal era by the Emperor Jehangir‘s mother-in-law, have been in use in India for centuries. The production of rose oil in Kannauj continues to be done via the ancient technique of distillation which uses a round kettle or a deg, connected via coir wrapped bamboo pipe to a copper receiver called a bhapka, a setup that could probably have been seen 5000 years ago as well. Also unchanged is the luxury status of the fragrance which today features as a top or heart note in some of the world’s best-known fragrances.
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If you wait long enough, everything eventually becomes trendy again and so has certainly been the case with oud – the oil extracted from the rare Agarwood tree that’s been having an “it” moment for a while now. Aloeswood, as it has been called in ancient texts, is the world’s most expensive perfumery ingredient. This precious wood comes from the diseased part of Agarwood trees, that are native to Southeast Asia and to Assam in India. When the tree is infected with a particular fungus it responds by producing a protective, aromatic resin which can be extracted by steam distillation of the affected wood. It takes almost 70 kg of wood to produce approximately one ounce of oil. Its fame as a luxurious, beautiful aromatic botanical coveted by kings and commoners alike, has been intact since the time of the Vedas.
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The fragrance of jasmine is ubiquitous in India and cuts across every context. From the piles of fresh white flowers in temples, to strings of them sold on street corners to simply the wafting fragrance of the flowers as you walk past a bush in the evening, it is hard to miss. Nor is it escapable in perfumery since practically every composition uses jasmine even if it’s in indetectable quantities. Though varieties of jasmine grow all over India, the real heart of its production lies in Tamil Nadu where the coveted jasmine sambac is grown, and extracted not by simple distillation as is rose, but a more complex solvent extraction method. The absolute of jasmine that it yields smells closest to the flower: green, fresh and floral, and is used in fine fragrance.
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Closest in value and antiquity to agarwood, sandalwood is arguably better known and loved in India, and certainly easier to enjoy. Its milky sweet, woody and rounded notes are at their finest in Mysore sandalwood, which is now so rare it elicits a kind of reverence in perfumery circles. It costs more than gold, and is all but extinct now, the trees having been cut down either legally or otherwise, since all parts of it are considered valuable and have been for centuries. Mentions of sandalwood in Indian writings predate even the Rigveda and crop up after that in various scriptures, poems and treatises.
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By Divrina Dhingra
The author is a writer & journalist. Her debut book The Perfume Project: Journeys Through Indian Fragrance was published last year.