India slips from exporting sandalwood oil to importing it
Dard-e-sar ke vaaste
chandan lagaana hai mufeed,
Uss ka ghissna aur lagaana
dard-e-sar yeh bhi to hai
[Sandalwood paste is the ideal cure for a headache,
(But) its preparation and application is a headache in itself!]
That Urdu couplet best encapsulates Kannauj’s long-standing love affair with sandalwood oil and attar (perfume). Situated along the mighty Ganga in Uttar Pradesh, Kannauj is one of the oldest cities in the country. In its heyday, it was regarded as the Grasse of the East, after the French town famous as the perfume capital of the world.
Ironically, India will soon begin buying sandalwood oil of the indigenous variety grown in Australia.
“Indian sandalwood oil is priced at Rs. 65,000 per kilo which is easily twice the price of sandalwood oil from Australia and three times the price of African sandalwood oil. Selling such a product at a global level is impossible,” rues Kapoor. On top of that, it takes inordinately long to get an export licence. The first set of export licenses were issued in 1998, almost two years after the first auction.
Of the 5 percent attar produced as personal fragrance, almost all is exported to West Asian countries like Saudi Arabia.
An evergreen aroma
Traditionally, all attars were sandalwood-oil based because of the unique ability of sandalwood oil to lose its own mild fragrance and absorb another. The other reason for its use is the remarkable stability it provides to the perfume. It is generally held that well-made attar based on sandalwood oil would smell just the same even after 100 years.
(This story appears in the 14 August, 2009 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)