Memoirs Of Perfume In The Bygone Age
Perfume is unnoticeable yet a significant accessory. From the time that has been obliterated in the dust-filled chronicles of history, perfumes have played a vital role in framing and making the heritage of the day, from the Vedic times to the current times wherein hundreds of distilleries still thrive in Kannauj, UP even today.
Perfumes have impressed the layman and the magnate in the same way. It is this heritage of ancient Indian perfumes that a 17th and 18th-century holograph(a document in the handwriting of its author) of two Sanskrit treaties embodies. The industry of perfumery and cosmetics antecedes at least three thousand years.
Many scholars and researchers gave innumerable hours to recreate this scented history. An unremembered classic in this regard is the two-volume History of Hindu Chemistry by the great scientist Sri. P. C. Ray. We have two renowned encyclopedic traditional works dealing with cosmetics and perfumery, among other topics like Varahmihira’s Brihatsamhita and Someshwara’s Manasollasa. The prolific intellect, Dr. P. K. Gode penned a series of papers on this most significant angle of the Sanatana Civilisation and deserves our endless gratitude.
Gandhasastra:
The Indian phrase for the science and automation of cosmetics and perfumery is Gandhasastra. The practical art and implementation of preparing cosmetics and perfumery are noted as Gandhayukti. Two significant treatises devoted to this subject embrace the Gandhasara and Gandhavada, whose authorship is untold. The science of cosmetics and perfumery is beneficial in the worship of Gods, which requisites the application of auspicious perfumes and incense. It pleasures men, it eliminates one’s poverty, and gives an indispensable complement to the persona of women.
Gangadhara furnishes an octuple categorization of aromatic ingredients as Vargas(categories).
- Leaves: Tulsi(Basil) etc
- Flowers: Saffron, jasmine, Sugandhapushopa, etc
- Fruits: Pepper, nutmeg, cardamom, etc
- Barks: Camphor tree, clove tree, etc.
- Woods: Sandalwood, Fir, etc
- Roots: Nutgrass, Pavonia Odorata (which is Balarakshi in Kannada, Thingai Pillai in Tamil, and Sugandhabala in Hindi), etc
- Release of aura from plants: Camphor etc
- Organic elements: Musk, honey, butter, ghee, etc
Gangadhara then delivers detailed information on technical processes and recipes for manufacturing perfumes and other scented or perfumed products such as scented waters, perfumed oils, incense sticks, and powders. It is blissful that conventional perfumes in India today use many of these procedures and techniques to produce their perfumed outputs.
Gangadhara implores Bhagwans, Goddess and an Yaksha (semi-divine being) before beginning his treatise: Bhagwan Shiva, Bhagwan Ganapati, Goddess Saraswati, and Gandha Yaksha, an attendant of Shiva. According to Gangadhara the endmost aim of perfumery is to ‘infuse semi-divinity within us and elevate our mind by freeing it from the mundane worries of the world.”
Today, we perceive a gaggle of contemporary era and foreign perfumes in the Indian trade. We also notice celebrities accredit and arrive with a new line of fragrances. We are often predisposed to give into the new-fashioned hue and cry of perfumes. But at the same time, we must remember to hold our hearts to the original fragrance of our roots. Anyone in love with heritage and modernism will inform you that only fragrance can bring them together. Beauty is a graceful flower, and its perfume is righteousness.