Incense of India

Incense of India

Indian Incense is known as "agarbattī" in Hindi (अगरबत्ती) (and other Indian languages). India has a rich tradition of incense making that goes back centuries. Many Indian incenses have a unique scent that is not found in any other part of the globe.

Classification

Indian incense can be divided into two categories: masala and charcoal. Masala incenses are made of dry ingredients, while charcoal incenses contain liquid scents. Masala incenses have several subgroups.

Masala

Masālā is a word in Hindi (and other Indian languages) meaning "spice mixture". It is commonly used when referring to curries or other food dishes. Masala incenses are made by blending several solid scented ingredients into a paste and then rolling that paste onto a bamboo core stick. These incenses usually contain little or no liquid scents (which can evaporate or diminish over time).

*Durbars

Durbars are a sub-group of masala incense. They often contain ingredients entirely unfamiliar in the West and contain very complex scents. They are usually very slow-burning and are quite sweet and spicy in scent. They contain both solid and liquid perfumes in a binder which never quite dries out, making the incense sticks soft to the touch.

*Champas

Champas are a sub-group of durbars. They contain a natural ingredient indigenous to India called "halmaddi". Halmaddi is a grey semi-liquid resin taken from the "Ailanthus Malabarica" tree. It smells like the flowers of the plumeria tree. Plumeria flowers are known as champa flowers in India, hence the name of the incense group. Halmaddi is hygroscopic which means it absorbs moisture from the air. This can cause champa incenses to have a wet feeling to them. Nag Champa is probably the most famous incense of the champa group.

*Dhoops

Dhoops are another masala sub-group. They are an extruded incense, lacking a core bamboo stick. Many dhoops have very concentrated scents and put out a lot of smoke when burned. The most well-known dhoop is probably Chandan Dhoop. It contains a high percentage of Sandalwood.

Charcoal

Charcoal incenses are made by dipping an unscented "blank" (non-perfume stick)into a mixture of perfumes and/or essential oils. These blanks usually contain a binding resin (sometimes sandalwood) that holds the sticks' ingredients together. Most charcoal incenses are black in color.

Manufacturers

These are some of the major incense companies in India:

* [http://www.indianincense.in Indian Incense]
* [http://www.nanditafragrances.com Nandita Fragrances]
* [http://www.parimal.biz Parimal Mandir]
*Amber Aromatics
*B.V Aswathiah & Bros./Nandi
*Hem
*NK Bharatharaj Setty & Sons/Kala Perfumery Works
*Padmini
*Puspa Perfumery
*Sarathi International/Tulasi
*Shrinivas Sugandhalaya
* [http://www.shroffincense.com Shroff Channabasappa & Sons]
*Vinason
* [http://www.scentsnaromas.com Scents n Aromas]

There are numerous other incense companies, of course. This list contains the main brands that can be found outside India. Many of these incense companies are located in Bangalore in the state of Karnataka in India.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Incense — Burning incense Incense (from Latin: incendere, to burn )[1] is composed of aromatic biotic materials, which release fragrant smoke when burned. The term incense refers to the substance itself, rather than to the odor that it produces. It is used …   Wikipedia

  • Incense — • An aromatic substance which is obtained from certain resinous trees and largely employed for purposes of religious worship Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. incense     Incense   …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • INCENSE AND PERFUMES — In the ancient world, incense and perfumes were extremely precious commodities, sometimes even more than silver and gold, and were greatly sought after for their fragrance, for both secular and religious purposes. Among the gifts the Queen of… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Incense clock — The incense clock (香鐘, 香钟, xiāng zhōng in Chinese) is a special timekeeping device invented in China during the Song Dynasty (960 1279) that spread to neighboring countries such as Japan. The clocks bodies are effectively specialized censers that …   Wikipedia

  • India — /in dee euh/, n. 1. Hindi, Bharat. a republic in S Asia: a union comprising 25 states and 7 union territories; formerly a British colony; gained independence Aug. 15, 1947; became a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations Jan. 26, 1950.… …   Universalium

  • India —    Until the seventh century Byzantine trade with India was almost entirely in the hands of merchants from Persia, Axum, and Himyar (qq.v.), who conveyed spices, precious gems, and incense to Ceylon, ports along the Red Sea (qq.v.), and to Persia …   Historical dictionary of Byzantium

  • Religious use of incense — have their origins in antiquity, and may have their roots in the practical and aesthetic uses considering that many religions with not much else in common all use incense. One common motif is of incense as a form of sacrificial offering to God or …   Wikipedia

  • Japanese incense — has a long history. It came to Japan from China, along with Buddhism, in the year 538 CE. From that point on, incense would become an important facet of Japanese culture. Initially, it was only imported from China, until eventually Japan began to …   Wikipedia

  • Commiphora wightii — resin (guggul) Conservation status …   Wikipedia

  • Dhupa — This article is about the dharmic use of incense. For plants mentioned in classical Hindu sources, see Flora of the Indian epics period. Dhupa (धुप) is, in dharmic religions (such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, etc), the ritual offering of… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”