Kannauj And The Art Of Making Perfume From Rainwater

This unique art of making perfume from rain is one of India’s best kept secrets.

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We all the love the beautiful smell of the rain, so how about a perfume that smells like rain? No matter how unbelievable it may sound, but there is a city in Uttar Pradesh called Kannauj, which knows the age-old secret of making perfume from rain water.

 

The smell of the rain is called petrichor, which actually comes from the Greek words ‘Petra’, a rock, and ‘Ikhor’, the tears of gods.

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The term was coined by a pair of Australian mineralogists, Isabel Joy Bear and Richard Grenfell Thomas.

Around the 1950s, they carried out extensive research to find the source and the reason behind this distinct smell.

They found out that the smell actually comes from the organic compounds that are present in the atmosphere. These organic compounds also include terpenes secreted by plants.

Although the word might come from Greece but the art of capturing this smell is completely Indian.

 

The perfume known as the Mitti Attar is made using an age old technology by cultivating soil and rainwater.

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Kannauj is famous all over the world for its locally made perfumes called Attar. Apart from popular fragrances like Rose and Jasmine, it is this Mitthi Attar which hogs much of the limelight.

 

The art of making this perfume is centuries old. It is believed that even till this day, the process of making this perfume remains exactly the same.

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There are many stories about how this art came to this city. Most of the historians agree that it was during the Mughal rule that this art came to this city.

According to a particular story, once a man from Kannauj went to Jehangir’s palace and noticed drops of rose oil floating on the surface of Noor Jehan’s bathing pool and this gave him the idea of making attar.

 

The perfume is made through a slow distillation process known as deg-bhapka. Deg refers to the huge copper pots and Bhapka refers to the artificial pond that stores the rainwater.

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The process in quite complex. The degs are placed over separate ovens. Besides the degs, there is bhapka. This bhapka stores the rainwater. The artisans then pour fresh flowers into the deg and close its mouth with clay or mud.

The deg and bhapka are connected with a bamboo pipe. they fill the pipe with sandalwood oil which serves as a base for the scent.

 

After the attar is made, it is packed in a small leather bottle, which acts as a natural de-moisturiser.

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The packing of the perfume is also quite unique. The unique packing helps to the moisture to evaporate and the attar to concentrate. The letter cover acts as a semi-permeable skin.

 

According to the people from this place, because of the Mithi Attar, all the perfumes of this city has received the unique geographical indication status.

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The climatic conditions of this place is also quite suitable for this unique industry.

People who are associated with this industry are now looking to adopt a more scientific approach that would enable them to produce better perfume using minimum resources.

So whoever taught that the essence of nature cannot be captured should definitely visit this place.

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