"A perfume without memory is a body without soul."
— Aanchal Malhotra, The Book of Everlasting Things
Oral historian Aanchal Malhotra's first work of fiction, The Book of Everlasting Things, revolves around a lesser-known Indian craft tradition — that of the country's ancient, indigenous perfumery. Despite sourcing and supplying nearly half of the world's most sought-after fragrant ingredients like sandalwood, rose water, jasmine oil, and oud or agarwood, which are essential to the art of making perfumes, India's place in the perfume world remains relatively obscure.
A Paradoxical History Of Obscurity
This is a paradox perpetuated by the global market's racial bias, indifference, and lack of popular awareness. While countries like France dominate the global perfume narrative, India's traditional perfume industry remains grounded in centuries of generational artisanal knowledge, regional practices, and natural extraction techniques. At the core of this industry are four primary forms of perfume: Rooh, Attar, Jal, and Choya. Each has a distinct character, shaped by both the raw materials and the method of extraction.
The Art Of Deg-Bhapka Distillation
Traditionally, Rooh, Attar, and Jal are made using an age-old technique known as deg-bhapka distillation, a traditional technique involving copper vessels. Fragrant plant material is slowly heated to release aromatic vapors, which are then condensed and separated into oil and water. While intrinsically related and made using similar deg-bhapka set-ups, Rooh, Attar, and Jal each represent traditional Indian fragrances which have distinct forms and formulas, and serve different functions.
Rooh, Jal, Attar And Choya — The Four Pillars Of Indian Perfumery
Rooh, which also means 'soul' in Urdu, represents the purest essence of a fragrant ingredient. Roohs are unadulterated, single-ingredient distillates, extracted from flowers like rose, jasmine, and kewda. They require large volumes of raw material, producing small quantities of highly concentrated essential oil. Though prized for use in religious rituals and traditional medicine, ruhs often end up exported to international perfume houses for use as base notes in luxury blends.
Jal, which means 'water', are the water-soluble by-product of the Rooh-making process. Also derived from a single aromatic source, jals are less concentrated but widely used for personal fragrance, skincare, cooking, and spiritual practices.
Attars differ from Roohs and Jals in that they are blends of different fragrant distillates and oils. To make attar, one or more aromatic ingredients are distilled onto a base oil. Historically, that base was sandalwood oil, known for its ability to fix and carry complex aromas. Today, however, due to conservation pressures and inflating cost, alternatives like vetiver or paraffin-based oils are often used. Attars range from simple formulas to complex, multi-step creations. Yet despite their craftsmanship, they rarely feature in the mainstream perfume market. The term 'attar' can be misleading since it refers not only to the oil-based blended perfumes but also serves as a general term for India's entire natural perfumery tradition.
Choya, on the other hand, is produced through dry distillation, a method involving high heat and low moisture, used to extract scent from hard materials like resins or roasted seashells. The resulting distillate is a dense, smoky oil — used sparingly to add depth and texture to other blends.
A Craft Tradition At A Crossroads
Although mass-produced homegrown perfumes have gained a significant share of the domestic market in recent years, India's traditional artisanal perfume industry remains both visible and invisible. Once favoured by emperors, the number of artisanal Indian perfumeries have dwindled from over 700 family-owned ateliers in the 20th century to less than 200 today. While Indian perfumers supply the building blocks of luxury perfumery — essential oils, absolutes, and botanicals — across the world, their own products like roohs and attars remain confined to local markets, religious use, or niche collectors. Today, the Indian perfume industry is at a crossroads. Their survival depends not only on the knowledge of skilled artisans but on the growing interest of a global audience ready to look beyond the bottle and into the process. The only question is: are they?
If you enjoyed reading this, here's more from Homegrown:
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Olfactory Euphoria: The Origins, Cultural Legacy, & Modern Resurgence Of Indian Perfume
The Scents Of Home: 4 Indian Perfume Brands That Are Bringing Tradition Back To Life