Beauty Tips - On the ittar trail

On the ittar trail:

The Ramzan experience comes alive for the senses at these age-old perfumeries in the Old City

Over the years, attar (also popularly known as ittar, derived from the Persian word 'Atr' meaning fragrance), has become an integral part of the holy month of Ramzan. Legend has it that Prophet Mohammed was himself a connoisseur of this natural perfume oil — its believed musk was his personal favourite!

"The sale of ittar goes up during the holy month of Ramzan, for these natural perfumes are free of alcohol," explains Mohd Mahmood Ali, owner of Famous Perfumery Centre, a shop that is over 60 years old, located on the pavement leading to Charminar. A second generation ittar seller, Ali, 53 took over the business as a teenager, after his dad passed away in 1973.

For many like him, the business of making and selling ittar is a family legacy. Purandas Ranchoddas has been around since 1896! The store was first located near the Mecca Masjid and it survived in the great Musi flood of 1908 despite being inundated! "However, it was gutted in a fire accident in 1935 and was relocated to Gulzar House, which is where it has remained since," recalls Ashwini Kumar, one of the seven brothers who run the shop. "We blend our own perfumes, importing raw materials — aromatic chemicals, and essential oils — from Mumbai, Kolkata and France to blend them here," adds Ashwini.

Originally from Champaner, Gujarat, their forefathers migrated to Burhanpur, Madhya Pradesh in the 1800s. "Purandasji was married to a girl from Hyderabad and he moved here in the early 1890's after her demise. Angered by the cold shoulder given to him by his in-laws, he decided to settle here to prove that he could make it on his own," says Shailender Prasad, the great grandson of Purandas and owner of Hyderabad Perfumers in Pather Gati.

Purandas was so successful that "he went on to become the official ittar supplier of the Nizams in 1920." "There used to be a special dress code comprising traditional sherwani and cap to enter the Nizam's court when offering him ittar. He would sample them and signal his men to take it with a hand gesture if he liked them," recalls Shantilal, owner of Purandas Motilal, (Motilal and Ranchod Das being the sons of Purandas), set up in 1935.

The art of making these fragrances is a laborious process. There are two types of perfumes. One is extracted from herbs through the process of distillation — it takes 45 days to make them and another one to two years to mature. The second are floral perfumes which are extracted from flowers through hydro/steam distillation. "We have mobile distillation units, which we take to the farms — Aligarh for the best roses, Behrampur (Rissa) for Khewra and Madurai for the best jasmines. The flowers are plucked before sunrise, put in the boiler, extracted in its crude form and is brought back to Hyderabad to be refined and blended," adds Shantilal.

The popular picks — Pahadi Phool, Shahjahan, Naushad, Arusa, Hara Gulab, Tohfa, Aman, Umar Khayyam, Mannat, Tabassum, Nuiloufer, etc — cost `140 per tola. The more exotic ones like Shama-Matulambar, Agar, Dahn-ul-Oudh, Musk-Amber cost anywhere between `2,000 to 5,000 a tola. "Earlier, perfumes were named after the ingredients in Arabic, Persian and Urdu. But now, we have more generic names like Tamanna and Cool Mint," says Shailender.

Most interestingly, none of these perfumers hold any formal degree in chemistry per se. "The art of blending is passed on and perfected through generations. We all inherit a nose for smells," quips Shantilal.

However, the future is uncertain for these traditional perfumers. With stiff competition from international perfume makers and changing interests of the next generation, continuing this age-old tradition is becoming increasingly unviable. "There is no support coming from the government either, we pay 14.5% tax. Also, the cost of sandalwood oil (used as the base for most perfumes) is getting very expensive, forcing us to use synthetic oils as a base. Most of my elder brothers' children have diversified into jewelry, pearls and other businesses. My elder son has graduated from IIT and is working in Bangalore and my daughter is studying MS in the US and I am looking forward to relocating to wherever my children go," says Shantilal.

But then there are the likes of Mohd Nadeem who returned from the US to take over his family business. "Being the only son of my parents, it was imperative for me to come back and take the family business forward. It's just not about the money, but we have an emotionally invested in this business," adds Mohd Nadeem, the nephew of Mahmood Ali. His cousins however, are all ready to head abroad for higher studies, away from the forgotten world of fragrances.