Life style
How Indian Perfumers Capture the Smell of Rain
In Kannauj , perfumers have been making monsoon- infused mitti attar for centuries
BY ZINARA RATHNAYAKE
THE ALLURING, MUSKY FRAGRANCE OF marigolds floats from a Hindu shrine, as a group of men laugh over ginger-infused milk teas served in clay cups called kulhads. In a nearby perfume distillery, a man turns his head towards the laughter as he crushes a batch of discarded kulhads. Here in Kannauj, a town in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, generations of perfumers have used kulhads and other clay materials to capture an enticing scent known as mitti attar.
“It’s the smell of the baked, parched earth when the first rains arrive after a long drought,” says Rajat Mehrotra, co-owner of the family-run Meena Perfumery. Perfumers like Mehrotra, who runs the company with his brother, have been bottling the enigmatic fragrance for centuries.
At his office, some 500 feet away from Meena’s tin-roofed distillery, Mehothra carefully pours the thick mitti attar oil into a glass bottle. “You cannot get mitti attar anywhere else,” he says, resting his eyes on each precious drop—0.26 gallons sell for about 180,000 Indian rupees, around $2,178.
Attars, also spelled ittar, are scented oils made from natural ingredients. The scent profiles in attars vary widely, from fragrances derived from flowers such as Damsak roses and jasmine to heavy, warm scents made from agarwood. Mitti means “earth,” and mitti attar loosely translates to the smell of rain-soaked earth. The fragrance is made only here in Kannauj using a special, centuries-old technique.
A worker carefully maintains the flames beneath the aromatic-filled copper vats, using dried cow dung to increase the heat or water to cool the flames
Despite the scent’s long local history, little is known about mitti attar’s origins, says Giti Datt, a boutique perfume house owner and an anthropologist at the Australian National University who studies attar. Datt says nobody knows when attars were first made or why Kannauj is the epicenter. It’s believed that attar distillation is similar to a distillation method found in the Indus Valley Civilization between 3300 BC to 1300 BC. “If that’s true, the process has survived the fall of civilizations and empires and conquerors,” says Datt.
Ancient Indus people used aromatic waters and plant extracts to create different scents used in medicine and religious rituals; later Vedic Age people continued these practices, wrote historian Jyoti Marwah in the paper, Attars: The Fading Aromatic Cultures of India. The Sanskrit epic Mahabharata—compiled by the end of the 3rd century—also mentions the use of perfume in royal courts. This indigenous Indian perfume practice later mingled with fragrance traditions of early Muslims who arrived in the subcontinent, says Datt. “So we ended up with a very unique, rich combination of Indo-Islamic perfume culture.”
This early 19th-century gouache painting shows a Muslim perfume seller (right) with his wife (left)
In the 19th century, the British colonized India and wiped out many indigenous art forms. “So we are trying to figure out what that meant for attar,” says Datt, who hasn’t found any Kannauj perfumery with pre-British origins. Mehrotra family’s business can only trace its roots to the 20th century. Although there’s little evidence, it’s possible that the British wanted to make attar into a commodity and set up the Kannauj perfume houses, says Datt.
Despite these murky origins, today mitti attar is well-known throughout the Indian subcontinent. Sacred Hindu scriptures such as the Bhagavad Gita reference the earth’s aroma after rainfall. “One can assume that it could be part of the inspiration for why people started bottling this unique smell,” says Datt.
Back at the factory, Mehrotra watches as a distiller collects kiln-baked clay discs bought from a local potter and other discarded clay materials, such as kulhads. The perfumer then dumps the clay materials (some 600 pounds of the stuff) into a large copper vat called a deg and pours in some water before closing it.
The distiller then takes a small, long-necked copper vessel, called a bhapka, that’s filled with sandalwood oil—the base of all attars. The bhapka’s opening is fixed to an angled bamboo pipe, which is in turn connected to the clay-filled deg. Once the set-up is complete, the distiller seals any opening with wet multani mitti, a type of clay often used as a skin cleanser. “Now, it’s naturally air-tight,” Mehrotra says, smiling.
Using a mix of wood and sun-dried cow dung, the distiller then lights up a small, carefully-controlled fire beneath the deg. For about seven hours, the clay and water-filled deg simmers over the flames. Mehrotra watches as the distiller splashes water onto the blaze, “because he knew the heat was too much.” If the flames go down, the distiller will add more cow dung to keep the fire hot enough.
When the clay boils inside the heated deg, an aromatic steam builds up and travels through the bamboo pipe and into the oil-filled bhapka. The sandalwood oil inside the bhapka then slowly absorbs the clay-essence of the vapour.
To make different scents, perfume distillers fill large copper vats with aromatics. When making mitti attar, they fill the vats with some 600 pounds of clay.
At the end of the day, the distillers separate the water from the sandalwood oil through a small opening. The entire process repeats for at least ten days until the thick oil is saturated with the heady fragrance of baked clay that mimics the smell of earth after monsoon showers. “You won’t get any smell in one day. It takes at least four or five days to start getting the aroma,” Mehrotra explains.
Once finished, perfumers store the mitti attar in camel-skin flasks, which helps excess water to evaporate and preserves the fragrance. “Attar is like liquor,” Mehrotra laughs. “It ages like fine wine. The older it becomes, the [more] mature and expensive it gets.”
Mehrotra has visitors and buyers from many countries, from Grasse, France, the “perfume capital of the world,” to New Delhi and Mumbai. “People from Grasse come here to see how we make mitti attar. They’ve tried [to make] it but they can’t get the right essence,” he says, showing his WhatsApp chats with French perfumers. Some of Mehrotra’s other buyers mix synthetic materials with attar to create new, unique scents of their own. “Attar is the base. They can’t make those perfumes without it. So anyone who wants natural perfume oil has to come here,” he says.
Distillers in New Delhi once made their own attars to use in paan, an after-meal mouth freshener in India, says Datt. But over the years, paan has fallen in popularity. “So a lot of those distillers stopped and moved into other businesses,” she says.
Despite these industry shifts, Datt says that attar continues to endure and evolve. “I don’t think it’s a dying industry, but certainly a changing one,” she says. “Certain types of markets—like paan—[are] maybe no longer there, but there are new, up-and-coming perfume houses in India that use attar, and we are seeing an increasingly growing switch towards natural oils across the world.”
Mehrotra says there’s more demand for attar than ever before. “If you use chemical perfumes, it’s not good for your body,” he says, “but attar is natural. You can even eat it!” It seems as long as people continue to savor the scent of monsoon rains on dry earth, mitti attar isn’t going anywhere.
Founded by the late Dr. Hudson Silva, the Sri Lanka Eye Donation Society (SLEDS) which is nearing 65 years is the first of its kind in the world to provide corneas completely free of charge to locals as well as foreigners through its International Eye Bank. Among the donors of eyes are several Presidents and Prime Ministers of the country. The other affiliated bodies of SLEDS are the Dr. Hudson Silva Memorial Eye Hospital and the Human Tissue Bank which provide a yeoman service to the public.
BY RANDIMA ATTYGALLE
At age 18, Eranga Madushan’s future looked bleak with keratoconus (a disorder of the eye that results in progressive thinning of the cornea) claiming both his eyes. Thanks to his physician’s recommendation for a corneal transplant, Eranga was fortunate to have received suitable corneas from the Eye Bank of the Sri Lanka Eye Donation Society which were successfully transplanted at the Kandy National Hospital.
Now 22-years old, this young man from Minipe has successfully finished his education and is employed. “I even passed the vision test and got my driving license – all made possible thanks to the noble service of the Sri Lanka Eye Donation Society,” says Eranga.
His is one of thousands of such success stories. These exemplify the thought-provoking discourse of Sivi Jathaka story delivered by the Buddha when, in one of his Bodhisathva’s births, he gave away his eyes to a blind beggar. There cannot be a better living testimony to this concept of dana than the Sri Lanka Eye Donation Society (SLEDS), now approaching 65 years.
Separating the cornea from whole globe
Giving life to a dead eye
In 1958 Hudson Silva, a medical student started a campaign under the banner, ‘Give life to a dead eye,’ to popularize the donation of eyes after death to obtain corneas for the Colombo Eye Hospital which had long waiting lists for eye replacements but without sufficient donors. Eyes at this point were obtained only from those who died without custodians in hospitals and homes for the elders and executed prisoners.
With the help of newspaper articles and public meetings, Hudson Silva’s campaign continued. By 1961, he had qualified and appointed a resident surgeon at the Colombo Eye Hospital. SLEDS got underway officially in a very small scale on June 11, 1961 at Dr. Silva’s Ward Place home in Colombo. Among the 40 founding members of the Society was Dr. Silva’s mother who pledged her eyes to be donated after death. When she died shortly thereafter, he himself grafted her corneas on the eyes of a poor farmer and thereby restored his sight. In 1965, Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake presiding at the official opening of the International Eye Bank, pledged his eyes after death. After his demise in 1973, his wishes were fulfilled.
With the objective of extending this service to foreigners awaiting eye replacements, Dr. Silva started connecting with senior eye surgeons from various parts of the world. In 1964 he dispatched his first eyes overseas – flying three set of donor eyes packed in dry ice to Singapore’s Government General Hospital. Thus commenced the country’s international eye donations on a Vesak Poya Day when five Singaporeans regained their sight.
Following the wide media coverage this attracted the world over, SLEDS was able to open its doors to the entire world. In the late 70s, on government-donated land on Vidya Mawatha in Colombo 7, SLEDS’ headquarters along with its Eye Bank were relocated and the present building was built with the help of Japanese funds. It was opened by the then Prime Minister R. Premadasa in 1984.
President William Gopallawa at the event of donating the the land at Vidya Mawatha, Colombo to set up SLEDS
Global demand
Globally, at least 2.2 billion people have a near or distance vision impairment, according to the WHO statistics. In at least one billion of these, vision impairment could have been prevented or is yet to be addressed. The leading causes of vision impairment and blindness at a global level are refractive errors and cataracts.Vision impairment, according to the WHO, poses an enormous global financial burden, with the annual global cost of productivity losses estimated to be US$ 411 billion.
The demand for corneal transplants (keratoplasty) is on the rise with increasing prevalence of eye diseases and the rising elderly population. “Global statistics indicate that over 12.5 million people worldwide are waiting for corneal transplants. We are committed to bridge this gap every year by donating corneas and to date our International Eye Bank had donated 95,151 corneas to foreigners from 57 countries. In addition, nearly 60,000 locals including many soldiers injured in combat, have received corneas,” says the Senior Manager of the SLEDS’ International Eye Bank, J.S. Matara Arachchi.
Donor registration
Having ‘grown’ with the institution since he was recruited in 1979 by the founder himself, Matara Arachchi says that the Eye Bank has decentralized its operations today with 150 branches island-wide enabling more people to become potential donors. The online consent registration facility is also available now on the SLEDS website. “We see an overwhelming interest among youth registering themselves with us to donate their eyes which is very encouraging,” says the official noting that many Sri Lanka Presidents and Prime Ministers have donated their eyes. “A cornea taken from President J.R. Jayewardene was split in two and grafted on to two Japanese patients and his other cornea was grafted onto a local patient,” he says.
Dr Hudson Silva
Potential donors need to be excluded from certain diseases for them to be eligible donors. Apart from registered donors, corneas from the dead are also donated by surviving family members. The youngest such donor was a four-year-old whose parents offered to donate their deceased child’s eyes to help another regain vision.
Harvesting of the eye needs to be done within four hours of a person’s death and the cornea itself has to be used on a patient within 14 days explains Matara Arachchi. “We hardly have any corneas left beyond the shelf life given the big demand for them. In case any are not grafted, they are often used to practice surgery and research purposes.” Donation of eyes does not cause any disfiguration to a body of a deceased, says the official who reiterates that the process enables the donor to look natural.
Preserving a single cornea cost about USD 300- 450 says the official. Corneas are donated to patients operated in both the state and private hospitals without discrimination. The institution, he says, is run on donations made by individuals and organizations. “Although we do not charge foreign recipients, many of them come forward to assist the institutions as means of expessing goodwill and appreciation.”
Eranga Madushan who regained sight thanks to the International Eye Bank
Free eye care
The eye hospital founded by Dr. Hudson Silva in 1992 at the Vidya Mawatha premises, was named in his honour after his death. It is committed to make eye care available to local patients at an affordable price aligned with the vision of its founder. The hospital is equipped with a fully-fledged operating theatre and an OPD with state-of-the-art equipment. Dr. M.H.S Cassim, a former consultant at the National Eye Hospital serves as the Medical Director of the SLEDS and Dr. Shamintha Amaratunge serves as consultant surgeon. “The hospital performs nearly 1,200 cataract surgeries per year and the patients are provided with lenses completely free of charge. In addition, we also provide spectacles to needy people,” says the Eye Hospital’s Manager, H.D.A.J Abhayawardena.
He adds that island-wide eye camps at village and school level are conducted by them to make eye care more accessible to people. The contact lenses laboratory is another ambitious initiative of the SLEDS which is planning to expand its work says Abhayawardena. “With the help of Japanese technology, we set up our own production plant to manufacture contact lenses locally- the first of its kind here at home. This venture can save a lot of money spent on imported lenses.”
Human Tissue Bank
Following the passing of the Human Tissue Transplantation Act in 1987, Dr. Hudson Silva succeeded in establishing the Human Tissue Bank of SLEDS in 1996 enabling Lankans to donate human tissue and limbs in addition to the eyes. “Only people under 70 who are free of certain diseases are eligible to donate tissue and limbs after death and we need to obtain the tissue within 12 hours of a person’s death,” says the Manager of the Tissue Bank, T.B Prabath.
Many orthopedic, plastic, cardiac, neuro, eye and maxillo-facial surgeons have successfully grafted these tissues. During the time of the war, many in armed forces have benefited from the Tissue Bank, says Prabath. “There is an overwhelming demand for tissues for patients involved in motor traffic accidents and those who have sustained burn injuries,” says Prabath urging more people to come forward to pledge their support.
By Zanita Careem
CHARINI is a well-known brand renowned for its bold yet elegant statement designs and unique concepts. This season,popular designer CHARINI will be presenting a collection that gives Sri Lankan traditional art a contemporary twist, bringing the mythical creatures of Sri Lankan history to life, beautified with floral elements from ancient paintings.
Each element has been meticulously hand-drawn with intricate details, staying true to the rich heritage of Sri Lankan artistry. These hand-drawn illustrations have then been carefully transformed into artworks, which are printed onto fabric to seamlessly blend tradition with modern design. This fusion of craftsmanship and innovation brings a unique depth to each piece in the collection. This is… the Mythical Ceylon Collection by CHARINI.’’
This Holy Month, Sheraton Kosgoda Turtle Beach Resort invites guests to gather in the spirit of Ramadan and indulge in a sumptuous Iftar dinner buffet at S Kitchen, during this month of Ramazan said a press release.
The release said to begin the evening, guests can break their fast with a thoughtfully curated selection, including dates, kanji or soup, dry fruits, and a choice of four refreshing beverages. Light hot appetizers such as samosas, spring rolls, fish rolls, fish buns, mini pizzas, cutlets, mini hot dogs, and satays, along with fresh salads and assorted sandwiches, ensure a nourishing start to the meal.
Following the breaking of fast, guests can then indulge in a lavish Iftar dinner buffet, featuring a rich international spread crafted by our culinary team. From Middle Eastern delights to Sri Lankan specialties and a variety of global flavors.
The Iftar dinner buffet also offers a special promotion, where when you ‘Reserve For Five, One Dines Free’, making it the perfect way to celebrate together with family and friends.
At Sheraton Kosgoda Turtle Beach Resort one can enjoy a truly heartwarming Iftar experience, blending tradition, community, and world-class cuisine in an elegant setting said the release.
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