MEDICINAL AND AROMATIC CROPS (2+1)

History

The history of the use of aromatics dates back through many ages and many civilizations. It is, however, difficult to pinpoint when exactly man first used essential oils. Obviously, it must be prehistoric. The sense of smell plays a significant role for man in the identification of the right type of food. Most of the fruits, when ripe and fit for consumption, emit a pleasant smell or aroma. The pleasant smell of flowers attracts insects and this helps in the cross-pollination, so essential oils have played a vital role, directly as well as indirectly, in the life of man since appearance on the Earth as a result of evolution. Plants have played a central part in many cultures over many eras. On a close study of the subject, it soon becomes clear just how vast was the knowledge of ancient civilizations including that of Egypt, India, Arabia, China and Greece about plants, their properties and their uses.

India has enjoyed a pre-eminent position in the manufacture of superior perfumes and aromatics since ancient times and the industry has flourished and grown considerably. The famous Chinese traveler Fa-Hien described India as the land of aromatic flowers fruits, woods, roots resins and grasses. Fragrances were very expensive and were used mostly in worship as incense. In ancient India, perfumers were important traders; they were called ‘gandhikas’, who created their own blends of perfumes and incense in the form of liquid, sticks, powders, pastilles and pastes: In Sanskrit literature, there is description of the toilette of a Mauryan queen, where her perfumes were freshly made by her maid. Sandalwood was grated on a wet stone, spices pounded in a pestle, then the paste blended in oil and sweet smelling flowers and leaves added to them. In the Ain-e-Akbari, Abul Fazal mentions Akbar’s love of attar and incense, “daily burnt in gold and silver censers”. At a later date, an apocryphal tale credits the Empress Noorjehan with discovering the attar of roses. She is said to have noticed the rose-oil floating on the surface of her bath-water and, thus, the legendary attar of rose was born.

At nawabi banquets, guests were welcomed with attar. They were sprinkled with rose-water at the gate and then phayas, small swabs of cotton dipped in attar, would be offered to them on silver trays decorated with flowers. Even the containers spelt luxury; attardaans were made of carved ivory or chased silver in the shape of mangoes or preening peacocks. The dressing table of a medieval lady’s boudoir would have a lacquer box holding a row of small cut-glass vials of attar. The silver rose-water sprinklers were shaped like long-stemmed flower vases and covered in filigree work. Indian cities like Delhi, Agra, Kannauj, Lucknow, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Aligarh, Bharatpur, Mysore, and Hyderabad, emerged as centers of the national and international trade in perfumery and other aromatic compounds, and were known for their quality attars across Asia, Europe and Africa.