Plants of India: Parijata

Parijata-The Wish-Granting Tree
by Christopher McMahon

Part 4: Parijata Attar
The delicate aroma of the flower did not escape the notice of India's original perfumers. This class of people were always trying to capture the fragrance of the countries exotic flowers by one means or another. They invented many unique ways of extracting the valuable essence of the plant and even today this art and craft is practiced Uttar Pradesh by the perfumers of Kannauj. The perfumers know all the places in the vicinity where parijat grows and they commission the local people to gather the flowers in the early morning. Whole families spend a couple of hours each day during the flowering season, collecting the fragile blossoms and bringing them to a person who weighs them out and pays them for their fragrant wares. Immediately the fresh flowers are placed in a copper still containing water in the ratio of 1 part fresh material to 2 parts of water. A standard still called a "deg"holds approximately 80 litres of water and 40 kgs of flowers. A clay snake then is placed upon the lip of the "deg"and the lid or "sarpos" is set on top of it. A flexible piece of metal with hooked ends called a "kamani" spring slides under the lip of the "deg"and over the "sarpos" A wedge is then driven between the lid and metal spring creating a tight seal between the still and lid. Meanwhile another long neck copper vessel called a "bhapka", acting as a receiver containing 5 kgs of sandalwood, is prepared and a bamboo pipe called a "chonga" wrapped with twine made from native grasses is inserted into it. A tight seal is formed by wrapping the pipes end with several layers of cotton cloth and forcibly inserting into the narrow mouth of the receiver. The other end of the bamboo pipe is affixed to the lid using cotton and clay. The receiver sits below the deg in a water bath. A fire is ignited beneath the deg using wood or cow dung and the distillation process is initiated. When the heat generated within the still is sufficient the aroma containing cells rupture and their volatile constituents mingle with steam, pass through the bamboo tube and condense in the water cooled receiver. In the receiving chamber, the sandalood ëfixesí the highly volatile aromatic constituents of parijat. The whole distilling process of one batch of flowers takes approximately 8-10 hours. Operations then cease and the mixture in the receiver is allowed to separate out during the course of the night. The following morning the water is drained out and the receiver containing the fragrance-charged sandalwood is reconnected to the "deg" A new batch of flowers is added to fresh water plus the previous days water obtained from the receiver and the same process is repeated. This cycle goes on for approximately 15 days or until the sandalwood achieves the proper concentration of aroma.

In the past these indigenous perfumes called "attar"or "ittar" were esteemed not only for their exquisite fragrance but also for their healing power. Ayurvedic physicians used them to treat a variety of diseases based on the precious aromatic molecules contained in each oil. Today it is virtually impossible to obtain a pure attar. Most are either adulterated with synthetic chemicals or are composed entirely of the same. A person wishing to use them therapeutically should never even consider doing so unless he is 100% sure that his source is genuine and this must be backed up with modern techniques of testing the oils through gas chromatography, etc. Up to this time only one or two companies have attempted to develop a finger print for these oils. Perhaps, with the current interest in aromatherapy, this trend will change and this art will be revived with full assurances of quality and purity. I mention this simply because it is a subject that interests me greatly and I know from personal experience that the shops selling these oils are not really telling the people the truth about their products. A person visiting India and purchasing the oils offered by the the attractive perfume shops like those found in Bombay and Lahore are truly asking for trouble if they are thinking that they are being given the genuine article. If, on the other hand, a person is only interested in the oil from a fragrance standpoint, it is possible to get a resonable fascimile at a nominal cost. A true attar of relatively high odor value will normally cost well over $1500.00 US per kilo and they can cost much more.

Updated: 5/26/2006

Copyright (C) 1998 by Christopher McMahon. All rights reserved.

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