Kannauj - The Perfume State of India

 

Did you know that a small town in Uttar Pradesh is called the perfume city of India. The town is none other than Kannauj.

Kannauj is around 3 to 4 hours drive from Agra. Kannauj looks like any other dusty North Indian city. It has few archaelogical remains from the Mahabharata era.

In ancient times, Kannauj was referred as Kusumpara and rose to its height during the reign of Harsha (590 to 647 CE).

Kannauj finds its reference in Huan Tseng's literature where he mentioned about the use of the perfume across Northern parts of India.

Plotemy specifically mentioned about the aroma of Kannauj , then referred as Kusumpua.

Although nobody knows the exact date when this ancient method of preparing perfume commonly referred as ittar or attar was started, but it finds its first mention or reference in the works of Bana Bhatta in his book 'Harsh Charita'. It mentions the use of attar. Attar reached its peak of usage during the time of Mughals.

The most interesting aspect is that the ancient and traditional method of preparing the perfumes in this city is being followed till date. The traditional approach followed is highly laborious and time intensive.

The process of preparing Attar is laborious and involves extracting the fragrance from a large number of flowers such as Rose, Jasmine, Kewra etc. Herbs and Spices like cardamom, cloves and saffron are also used for making attar. 

A famous attar from Kannauj is called as Shamama made from the co-distillation of different types of herbs and and spices.

There are many families in Kannauj who make Shamama but they have the receipes secretly passed on to their next generation within the family. 

Kannauj perfumes have a huge demand abroad and are exported to several countries.