ATTAR
- ART & CULTURE
News: In Frames | Scent of a city
What's
in the news?
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Kannauj,
a small town in Uttar Pradesh, is known as the “perfume city of India”.
Most of the attar manufacturers here have been in the business for generations
and they keep their specific formula a well-guarded secret.
Attar:
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Attar, also known as “itra” or “ittar”, has been in India for thousands of years.
Extracted
from:
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Pure
and natural attars are derived from different kinds of flowers
(rose, kewra, chameli, bela, marigold, jasmine, lavende and so on), from grasses such as vetiver, and herbs
and spices (cardamom, cloves, saffron, juniper berry, jatamansi and the like)
by the traditional approach of steam
distillation in a copper vessel.
Process:
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Traditionally, sandalwood oil is used as the base to make quality attars but it
can make the product quite costly. This is why foodgrade oils are now used as
the base to make attars more affordable.
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Degh
Process:
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The steam distillation is carried out in
copper vessels, referred to as degh, where the natural ingredients and water
are kept.
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The vessel is covered and sealed with a
special clay mix.
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The degh is connected by a pipe (referred
to as chonga) to a copper receiver (bhapka) and a water tank.
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Wood, coal or cow dung is used as fuel.
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As the degh is fired, the vapour collected
in the bhapka gets condensed and the oil collects the fragrance.
Stored
in:
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Traditionally, attar is kept in a kuppi made from leather, including
camel skin, as it removes moisture naturally.
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Today, decorated glass bottles are used to
store the perfumes.
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A famous attar from Kannauj is the
“shamama”, made from a co-distillation of herbs and spices.