Kannauj makes a comeback as India’s fragrance capital

For practically 4 centuries, Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh was India’s fragrance capital offering second life to flowers, spices, wooden and clay within the creation of attar. Challenges of the twenty first century and  the liberalisation of the Indian financial system gave strategy to alcohol-based fragrance imports and shortly it misplaced its crown.

At one time limit, town had over 700 distilleries to supply attar and by the center of 2000s, they have been all the way down to lower than 200. The attar makers have been compelled to show to tobacco and meals flavouring markets to maintain their craft. 

With the Covid pandemic setting in, the lockdown noticed the Tandon siblings — Krati and Varun — eager to do one thing. Their father, Pravin, had tried his hand at perfume-making at dwelling and witnessing the native artisans battle, the brothers determined to utilise their expertise to advertise these pure and oil-based perfumes. 

Tapping kids

The pandemic noticed demand rising for pure merchandise and pure perfumes have been thought of extra protected, non-toxic and delicate for all skins moreover being simple on the lungs. The preparation means of pure perfumes, primarily attar, is environment-friendly and excludes chemical compounds comparable to phthalates.

Thus was born Boond Fragrances with the target of reviving Kannauj’s custom of manufacturing attar. Also called ittar, attar is a vital oil derived from botanical or different pure sources. Mostly these oils are extracted through hydrodistillation or steam distillation. Persian doctor Ibn Sina was the primary to derive the attar of flowers from distillation.

The Boond staff started introducing these fragrances among the many youthful generations and made them accessible throughout the nation by way of Amazon’s web site. On its half, Amazon provided its market to assist attain the product in each nook and nook of the nation. 

In accordance with the Tandons, each aspect, from the fragrance to the packaging, in Boond was thoughtfully crafted by native karigars. The packaging is handmade from recycled paper and is screen-printed. Handwritten notes and poems crafted by native college lecturers are inserted in each little field, they are saying.

Sourcing from farmers

Whereas flowers, herbs, spices, wooden and clay discover their means into the creation of attar, sandalwood is infused with botanicals to create a concentrated resolution. This may also help the scent of a single droplet to linger for days. 

The Tandons first got here up with Maati -an evocative earthy scent of the primary rain on dry soil. “Maati is the odor of dwelling. Greater than only a perfume, it’s a reminiscence of being out within the rain,” says Varun Tandon, a author and director-turned-entrepreneur.  

The uncooked supplies for attar are sourced from farmers on the outskirts of Kannauj. The growers domesticate damask roses, marigolds and jasmine. Maati’s key ingredient— chikni mitti, a darkish alluvial clay — is discovered on the banks of lakes and ponds within the area. 

‘Senses are instruments’

Initially, the moist clay is formed into muffins, referred to as tikkis, on a potter’s wheel. These are then left to dry underneath the solar earlier than the dried tikkis are fired in a brick oven. “In a day, we make as much as 20 quintals (2,000 kg) of tikkis for attar. Even the damaged shards from the pots we make are despatched for making attar. Nothing goes to waste,” says Mohan Lal, a potter with 4 a long time of expertise supplying baked clay for Maati.

At Boond, attar is crafted utilizing a centuries-old, time-tested method referred to as Degh-Bhapka. The method is utilizing a copper vessel or degh stuffed with contemporary water with baked clay as the primary ingredient. The degh’s lid is sealed to make sure no steam escapes, whereas a bamboo reed connects the vessel to a different containing sandalwood oil. 

The degh is heated over a mild hearth fuelled by cow dung. Because the contents within the degh start to simmer, important oils within the clay turn out to be vapour and settle within the different vessel which is submerged in water to chill. The vapours then condense and are absorbed by the sandalwood oil. This course of, lasting about 5 hours, is repeated till the specified efficiency is achieved. After extraction, the attar is aged, additional enriching its complexity and depth.

Mahesh Chand, who has been concerned within the course of for over three a long time, says senses are his instruments. “When the pandemic hit, I believed there was no future and turned to farming,” he says. 

However there was a resurgence of world curiosity within the potential of attar makers and sellers to attach with buyers pan-India by way of Amazon’s web site. “At present, each different home in Kannauj has a degh,” Chand says with a smile.

At present, Boond sells over 18 merchandise on the Amazon Indian web site. It has created employment alternatives for over 15 artisans throughout the nation.