Every year with the arrival of the month of Ramzan, perfume along with Halim also attracts. Kanauji in Uttar Pradesh has been the centre of Attar for the last few centuries. It mirrors the culture of the Mughal rulers of that time. While perfumes around the world are made with alcohol, perfumes are traditionally made with floral oils are doing.
It was during the Mughal period that the Attar business was started in the town of Kanauji. Experimenting with various fragrances for Nur Jahan, the wife of the then king Jahangir in the early 17th century. That would have been like. She does all kinds of research on flowers. It also had the cooperation of the husband. With her encouragement, many people in Kanauji started making fragrant oils from flowers. The locals say that Nurjahan was the reason for making attars in that way. "Due to its proximity to major cities like Agra, Kanpur, Lucknow as well as Delhi, Kannauji has come together. The land was fertile due to the nearby river Ganga. With that, flower cultivation is done well. That is why the aristocracy was interested in setting up perfume industries in the region, "says Pranjal Kapoor. Founded in 1888, the famous ML Ramanarayan.
Traditional methods of extracting oils from a variety of flowers are still followed here. There are up to 300 small and large industries in Kanauji. In all of these, the essential oils are essentially hydrodistillation methods. Are taken. "These are the reasons why Kannauj Attars are so special. Nowhere in the world is this," says TN Tandon. The Devi Prasad Sunderlal Khatri perfume he runs has a history of over 150 years. Farmers supply a variety of flowers grown in the surrounding fields to distilleries. The flowers are placed in large pots of various sizes, covered with soil to prevent air infiltration and these are connected to pots that are made of copper. When the furnace is ignited then the flowers will be cooked and the steam drops from them are distilled by this vapour. It is entirely staffed with workers. For example, 180 grams of Roh Gulab is made from a rose of 400 kgs.
A few hundred types of fragrances are made in Kanauji. Their prices are determined by each type. It is made from the plant roots of the rare fragrant 'Shamama' gourd. To it 41 types of other ingredients, oils are added. 'Mitti' perfume smells like raindrops. Sandalwood is made by mixing certain types of oils. Depending on the type of these perfumes, prices range from Rs 25 per gram to Rs 20 lakh per kg. “Agarwood oil ”(extracted from special plants in Assam) is priced at Rs 25 lakh per kg, while Ruh Gulab (extracted from pink roses) is priced at Rs 8 lakh per kg.
Perfume lovers have been sniffing and mesmerizing them for generations as they are also known as "Kanooji Attars".
