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  • Narrator: Fresh roses are the main ingredient

  • for this ancient way of making perfume.

  • The tradition is thousands of years old,

  • and this small city in India is one of the only places

  • that still makes it this way.

  • One batch can take weeks or even months to prepare.

  • The result is 100% pure perfume,

  • also called attar, the Arabic word for fragrance.

  • But what makes the attar so special

  • is also what is leading to its demise.

  • The time-consuming process is hard to sustain.

  • We visited India's perfume capital, Kannauj,

  • to see how this craft is still standing.

  • Workers gather roses in these fields near Kannauj

  • and deliver them to distilleries while they're still fresh.

  • This one is over 100 years old.

  • It's owned by M. L. Ramnarain Perfumers.

  • There is no electricity and no industrial machinery here.

  • Workers have already prepped

  • these copper containers, or degs,

  • filling them with just the right amount of water,

  • about 80 kilos.

  • The most difficult part of this job

  • is accurately measuring the water.

  • Not everyone can measure it accurately.

  • Narrator: Once the flowers arrive,

  • they're carefully weighed.

  • It is an essential part of the process,

  • as getting an accurate ratio is key.

  • It took me five years to learn this craft.

  • Narrator: The roses are evenly spread out,

  • and it takes two men to carry and pour them into the degs.

  • As the petals begin to seep in the water,

  • a craftsman seals the container rim

  • with a mixture of clay and cotton.

  • They then light firewood

  • inside an earthen oven called a bhatti,

  • and the alchemy begins.

  • The heat boils the water and flowers until they emit steam.

  • It condenses as it travels through

  • this hollow bamboo pipe, or chunga.

  • That connects to the bhapka,

  • a smaller container filled with sandalwood oil

  • that forms the base of attar.

  • Rajeev: They are tying up the bhapka.

  • The straps loosen after a while, so we try to keep them tight,

  • so that the bhapka captures the water vapor.

  • Narrator: This is where every last drop

  • of fragrant water will gather over six hours.

  • In the meantime, workers constantly check

  • the temperatures of the different vessels,

  • using their hands and years of experience

  • instead of thermometers.

  • They monitor the fire to make sure the degs

  • are warm enough to create steam.

  • But not too muchotherwise it can destroy the scent.

  • They also have to make sure the bhapka stays cool enough

  • to turn the steam back into liquid.

  • This is a job which requires a lot of patience.

  • It requires a lot of time and effort.

  • The input has to be good to get great outcomes,

  • so every stage of our process

  • has to be given a lot of focus

  • and to be done with a lot of concentration.

  • And any slip off can have negative results.

  • Narrator: And the result is the all-natural attar,

  • free from any alcohol or artificial chemicals,

  • with a scent that can linger for days.

  • Here, they make over 15 different kinds of oils.

  • But one of their most prized is mitti attar,

  • literally meaning "earth perfume."

  • Pranjal: When, let's say,

  • there is rain on dry, purged earth,

  • and you know the smell,

  • the sweet, soothing smell that one gets,

  • so that's the smell that you can expect from attar mitti.

  • Narrator: To recreate the smell of earth,

  • they use old clay pots that were used for spices or tea.

  • They crush the pots and add them to the water,

  • just as they did with the roses.

  • But while rose attar is made in a day,

  • others can take weeks or even months to produce.

  • They're distilled and redistilled

  • till the smell is potent enough.

  • The last step is the bottling process.

  • It's also old-school.

  • Using a funnel and a bucket,

  • every tiny bottle is filled by hand.

  • Expensive attars can sell for 10,000 Indian rupees,

  • or $135.

  • And that's the price for just 2 teaspoons of it.

  • The raw materials are costly,

  • and it takes a lot to make just a little amount of perfume.

  • It is expensive because sandalwood oil

  • costs more than 1 lakh rupees [per kilogram].

  • We also use flowers that cost between 50 and 250 rupees per kilogram,

  • so the price automatically rises.

  • Narrator: Kannauj has been known to produce attar

  • for at least 400 years.

  • Pranjal: As a matter of fact,

  • Kannauj has got the geographical indication for an attar.

  • So, technically,

  • an attar can only be from Kannauj.

  • Narrator: But the method of steam-distilling

  • is said to have originated in ancient Persia

  • and the Middle East thousands of years ago.

  • In India, it was popularized by Mughal kings

  • during the 17th century.

  • But these days, young brand-conscious Indians

  • mostly use Western perfumes.

  • As a result, in the last 20 years,

  • 80% of India's traditional distilleries have closed down,

  • and the people of Kannauj have felt the decline.

  • Pranjal: So, the whole town is involved

  • in the business of perfumery.

  • I would say about 80% to 85% of the people

  • living in the town are associated to the perfume industry

  • in one way or the other.

  • A lot of people say

  • that it's losing its sheen and stuff like that,

  • but I really personally don't feel that way.

  • Every day, we strive to innovate

  • and find a new application for our oils.

  • So we've seen growth, no doubt.

  • Narrator: Muslims all across South Asia

  • have used attar for centuries.

  • It's believed to be one of Prophet Muhammad's

  • most prized possessions.

  • Attar is something that my grandfather and my father have been using for a very long time.

  • Narrator: And outside of India,

  • these chemical-free attars are popular in the Middle East.

  • European fragrance houses have also been importing attar

  • to use it as an ingredient in their modern perfumes,

  • breathing new life into an ancient industry.

  • We are very proud of our lineage.

  • But at the same time, it's a lot of responsibility as well.

  • When you have to maintain and sustain certain standards,

  • then that becomes difficult.

  • It makes us proud to carry forward a legacy

  • of five generations.

  • Narrator: After all, recreating the smell

  • of rain on earth is no small legacy.

Narrator: Fresh roses are the main ingredient

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How India's Perfumers Recreate The Smell Of Rain On Earth | Still Standing

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    chen に公開 2022 年 10 月 31 日
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