Good view of the receiver(bhapka) sitting in the waters of the of the cooling tank(gachchi) where the vapors of the distilled plant materials collect in sandalwood contained in the bhapka
In the next month, as we get ready to launch our newly designed website, I will be releasing my line of
limited edition natural fragrances. This fulfills a long held dream of mine which has been to offer a select range of my favorite scents from around the globe. These fragrant offerings called
Puja, will only be available on our website.
This selection represents years of searching and researching,
inhaling (and exhaling), traveling and wandering around making contacts, giving me the opportunity to learn and observe the traditional and ancient processes that go into producing the fragrant offerings from the aromatic plant world. These precious fragrances will include my absolute favorites of traditionally distilled attars, ruhs, absolutes; the gentle CO2 extractions, solo-note essential oils, hand rolled incense, and my own perfume blends in organic grape alcohol, as well as a solid perfume hand made in beeswax and jojoba.
One such example is an absolute I just received: the stunning and rare Night Queen (Cestrum nocturnum) which may be one of the last batches ever made. Night Queen, from the Nilgri Hills in South India has been harvested at night by the local villagers who abandoned the project because the sweet scent of the flowers was said to attract cobras!
I have also searched, rummaged and fossicked around the globe looking for an exquisitely simple crystal glass bottle to present them in, itself a representation of all that is elegant and divine, an apt vessel for the daily ritual of anointing our bodies with these sacred, precious and aromatically healing oils. In fact, the more you anoint with attars, the closer to the gods you ascend, the Latin words
per fume literally meaning to ascend 'through smoke'...Your own rhythmic breath, the process of simple inhalation and exhalation being the vehicle of this ascension and purification through scented vapors, ethers... prana. In Ayurveda, attars are ancient healing aromatic substances, imparting a quiet serenity to the mind and body. In the mornings, chanting the Peace Invocation in Sanskrit (w/help from Manorama's cd!) I apply my favorites of Saffron Attar or Summer Rose Attar to marma points at wrist pulses and over heart before my morning yoga practice.
The traditional attars of India are rarely found in their pure form today. They are often adulterated with synthetic chemicals or the base oil, sandalwood, is stretched with liquid paraffin and other substances. In the traditional process various flowers, roots, herbs, spices, etc are hydrodistilled in copper vessels into a receiving vessel containing sandalwood oil.
It means that a certain proportion of flowers or other aromatic plants is put into a copper vessel containing water, sealed and the aromatic vapors produced from a wood or cow dung fire, rises through bamboo pipes and passes into another copper vessel containing sandalwood oil, sitting below the larger distilling one. There the vapors condense and after the days distillation the water and oil separate, allowing most of the aromatic molecules to become adsorbed into the sandalwood oil. The water is decanted off and added back to the distilling vessel for the next day's distillation. The process, in the case of single flowers like rose, jasmin, kewda, night queen etc is repeated for a minimum of 15 days until the sandalwood becomes totally saturated with the perfume of that particular flower.
receiving vesselsThe process for making Hina, Shamama, Amber, and Saffron Attar is much more sophisticated and requires numerous other steps as as many as 60 natural ingredients go into their production which takes place over a couple of months. Some of the best-known attars are rose, saffron, and parijata.
Close up view of chonga bamboo pipes connecting the distilling unit with the receiverIt is worth noting that many
many oils in India in the common marketplace are called Attar but they are not at all what their names claim to be. Authentic Attars require a huge amount of labor and fresh materials which makes them costly items to produce, think of them as
fragrant precious gems.
Healing with Fragrances:
The daily use of pure plant based perfumes produces mild euphoria and peaceful feelings. Gifts from nature, these rich and complex aromatic molecules are bathed in the ethers of ancient knowledge. In Ayurvedic Medicine, these perfumes are known as attars or ruhs, and their production is an art and science that has been passed down over hundreds of years.
Applying an Attar on the wrist pulse points, or on the marma points (subtle energetic pathways) called
ajna or
sthapani in the mid-forehead area, or over heart center, behind the ears or under the hair line allow the fragrant oils to absorb fully into the skin encouraging their fragrant silage to gently and subtly surround the body. The aromatic effects are soothing, calming and regulating to breath, the heart, and nervous system...and uplifting to the spirits of you and those around you. We become the embodiment and human diffuser of aromatic plant wisdom, carriers of light and
prana, vital energy, the subtle life-sustaining force of all living beings.
Antique Silver Attardan shaped in the form of a lotus. Small vials in center contain attar.
Om
May all beings be happy
May all beings be free from sickness
May all see and experience what is auspicious
May no one be unhappy
Om.
May all beings be happy.
May all beings be free from sickness
May all see and experience what is auspicious
May no one be unhappy~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A word about the sandalwood used in Indian Attars:Several times a year in the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, sandalwood auctions are held at the government centers where sandalwood is stored which has been collected from legally harvested sandalwood trees. The attar makers, incense manufacturers, furniture makers etc go to these auctions and can legally procure the sandalwood logs, chips, dust etc there.
There is also a government distillery in Tamil Nadu from which sandalwood oil can be legally procured by businesses situated in India.
This is only for sale within India and according to current law very few permits for legal exportation of pure sandalwood are currently being issued but there is no ban on exporting the
attars created from this sandalwood.
No toxic diluents. No phthalates. No synthetic chemicals.
Please note: Puja Aromatics will not be available till November 1, but they will be ready just in time for the Holidays. Ho Ho Ho!
article sources:
1/Christopher MacMahon, White Lotus Aromatics
2/Marma Points of Ayruveda, by Vasant Lad, B.A.M.S., M.A.S.Sc. - and-
Anisha Durve, MSOM, DIPL. Ac., A.P.
The Ayurvedic Press
Albuquerque, New Mexico - 2008
ISBN-13:978-1-883725-08-2
3/ Manorama's website: SanskritStudies.org