Indian Attars — A Source of Pure Natural Fragrance
Have an insight into its making, content, variety, and uses!
When we talk about fragrances, perfumes, colognes, and deodorants come to mind. But if you have not talked or used Indian attars, the discussion of fragrances would be partial. As french perfumes have earned recognition the world over, the Indian attar (without alcohol) has been prevalent in South Asia and the Middle East since ancient times.
Indian attar is a natural floral perfume available in ornate tiny crystal bottles, usually of 5 ml to 100 ml. It is a mix of diverse extracts from flowers, spices, herbs, or barks in a base oil. The base oil is generally sandalwood essential oil. Attar is prepared by blending exotic flowers/herbs/spices in base oil in large copper vessels (called degs), flowers gradually infuse their scent in oil over a period of time. The flowers or solids are removed after complete infusion.
The perfumes, colognes, and deodorants contain 2 to 15% essential oils, alcohol, and water. However, Traditional Indian Attars are purely made of (sandalwood) oils and the plant extracts without alcohol. They are free from synthetic odours and toxic elements. They are in highly concentrated form and their one drop on skin or clothes spreads scent for more than six hours. Their preparation takes a long period of time and they do not have an expiry date. Most of them get better in fragrance with aging like wine.
Indian attar has a rich history, the epics and mythological books also include its reference. It is said that Mughal Emperor Jahangir made it popular. Indian attars are applied on the sweaty body parts, their fragrance intensifies with perspiration. A dab on the wrist, behind the ears, in-between elbows and back of the knees. or a drop or two on a handkerchief goes a long way for fragrance. You don’t need to apply a good amount of alcoholic and less intense colognes or perfumes. Attars last long on the skin due to the absence of alcohol and oil based content.
The popular Indian attars are Mitti attar (scent of wet clay in rain), Ruh Gulab (scent of rose), Ruh Khus (scent of vetiver), Kesar (scent of saffron), and Chameli (Scent of Jasmine). The other known attars include Juhi, Gulmohar, Mogra, Loban, Kewra, Oud/Agarwood, Genda/Marigold, Lotus, Tuberose, Hina, and some others. Women prefer floral scents such as Gulab or Chameli while men prefer woody smells. Warm attars made from saffron, musk, and amber are applied in winters to increase body temperatures. In contrast, cool attars such as Rose, Jasmine, Khus, Kewda, and mogra are preferred during summers.
Indian attars were initially used by the elite class. It has been traditionally used in Temples also. But now they are available as a fragrance to a common man. The Muslim community uses it particularly for the absence of alcohol. The mouth freshener industry (Pan masala & Gutka) has become the largest consumer of Indian attars, particularly kewra and rose. Attars are also used in Indian sweets, aromatherapy, and pharmaceutical items. It is wise to buy them from reputed Indian Attar Manufacturers in India.
Reference: https://medium.com/@araaninternational/indian-attars-a-source-of-pure-natural-fragrance-738fa5c714c8
