India is the world's main incense producing country, and is also a major exporter to other countries. In India, incense sticks are called agarbatti (Agar-wood: from Dravidian) Tamil agil, agir, Sanskrit , meaning "stick".) An older term "Dhūpavarti" is used in ancient and medieval texts which encompasses various types of stick incense recipes. Incense is part of the cottage industry in India and an important element of many religions in the region since ancient times. The method of incense making with a bamboo stick as a core originated in India at the end of the 19th century, largely replacing the rolled, extruded or shaped method which is still used in India for dhoop.
Dhūpa (incense) and gandhā (perfumes) are two of five accessories of religious worship in Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism; others being puṣpa (flowers), dīpa (lamp) and nivedya (food). Worshipping deities with these five accessories is generally considered as a way for achieving the four ends of human life; dharma, artha, kama and moksha.Sociology of Religion in India (2001) - Page 287, M. G. Nayar
Etymology The word agarbatti is derived from (Agar: from Dravidian Tamil அகில் (agil), அகிர்(agir)., Sanskrit , meaning "stick"); an older term, "dhūpavarti", is more commonly used in ancient and medieval texts which encompasses various types of stick incense recipes.
History
Early evidence of incense use and incense burners have been found in Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods (3300–1300 BCE).'Excavations at Rakhigarhi (1997-98 to 1999–2000)' page 188, by Dr. Amerendra Nath, Archaeological Survey of India The oldest textual source on incense is the Vedas, specifically, the Atharva-veda and the Rigveda, which encouraged a uniform method of making incense. Although Vedic texts mention the use of incense for masking odors and creating a pleasurable smell, the modern system of organized incense-making was likely created by the medicinal priests of the time. Thus, modern, organized incense-making is intrinsically linked to the Ayurvedic medical system in which it is rooted. Mahabharata classifies incense dhupa into three types known as niryasa; resins from Commiphora wightii, Shorea robusta, Boswellia serrata, second is sarin; heartwoods from aloeswood, sandalwood, roots, flowers and herbs, and third is kritrima; artificially produced or manufactured like jaggery or molasses from sugarcane for example. Blend of these three types of ingredients formed basis of incense making since ancient period.Historical perspective on the usage of perfumes and scented Articles in ancient Indian literatures Prasad et al 2008, page 33-39, National Library of Medicine The practice of incense as a healing tool was assimilated into the religious practices of the time. Dharmaśāstra describes incense ingredients as sandalwood, aloeswood, camphor, musk, saffron, piper cubeba, resins, jaggery, ghee, honey, fragrant flowers, among others.'History of Dharmaśāstra' page 38, by Pāṇḍuraṅga Vāmana Kāṇe (1958), Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute Puranic texts similarly gives incense ingredients similar to Dharmasastra like sandalwood, aloeswood, musk, camphor, saffron, piper cubeba, resins etc. As Hinduism matured and Buddhism was founded in India, incense became an integral part of Buddhism as well. Around 200 CE, a group of wandering Buddhist monks introduced incense stick making to China.
In Arthashastra, a text on treatise of statecraft and political science, agarwood, sandalwood and other aromatics were subject to a state tax at one-tenth or one-fifteenth of the sale price of the products. The Kamasutra text describes Gandhayukti ("Perfume blending"), the technique of making perfumes as one of the 64 arts to be learned by men and women. Commonly described incense types in early texts include Dhūpavarti (incense sticks, early form without bamboo-core), Dīpavarti (powder incense rolled inside cotton lamp-wicks), Churna dhupa (incense powder mixed with camphor), Pindadhupa (fresh incense paste made into lumps), Vasana (perfumed oils for lamps).Royal life in Mānasôllāsa, Page 137, P. Arundhati (1994).
Texts on incense
While the earliest texts that mention aromatic preparations in any detail appear to be religious and medical texts; some of which had chapters dedicated to incense; it is only later during the first millennium CE is when evidence of texts devoted entirely to "Gandhayukti" the art of perfumery emerge for diverse use. According to James Mchugh from "approximately the late centuries of the first millennium CE onwards do we see significant materials on perfumery incorporated into texts on erotics and courtly life." These texts are not just limited to incense making, but the topic of "Gandhayukti" covers diverse products related to perfumery and cosmetics of various kinds; Curna (perfume powders), Vilepana and Anulepana (fragrant sandal unguent, applied to the body and left on to render its fragrance), Udvartana and Sananiya (fragrant bathing exfoliants), Dhupavarti (incense sticks, early form which lacks bamboo-core), Dipavarti (perfumed powder rolled inside cotton lamp-wicks), Vasana (perfumed oils), among others.
A chapter in ancient Bṛhat Saṃhitā is dedicated to Gandhayukti ("Perfume blending"), here Varahamihira provides several perfume formulas, one of them known as Gandharnaava ("Ocean of perfumes") is a unique perfume formula, in which from a given number of ingredients placed in a grid, numerous combinations can be made, leading in some cases to a vast number of potential perfumes. He provides a complex algorithm for calculating how many perfumes one can make from a given number of ingredients, in one case up to 43,680 perfumes can be made.Brihat Samhita by N. Chidambaram Iyer (1884), page 139–150, Chapter 77 - Preparation of Perfumes (Gandhayukti)
The Lokopakara ("for the benefit of the people") text has a chapter dedicated to incense recipes for various needs, below are few examples;'Lokopakara (For the Benefit of People) - An Ancient Text on Indian Agriculture' page 89 Valmiki Sreenivasa Ayangarya (2006), Asian Agri-history foundation
In the text Sharngadhara-paddhati ("Sharngadhara's Guidebook"),'Śārṅgadhar-saṃhitā: a treatise of Āyurveda by Śārṅgadhara' page 234, K. R. Srikantamurthy (1984), Chaukhambha Orientalia a chapter is dedicated to Jalavasa (perfumed waters), Mukhavasa (mouth freshener), Angavasa (cloth perfume) and Dhupa (incense), below are some examples;
The Haramekhala ("the Girdle of Hara") text describes preparations of the following aromatics for dinacharya ("daily-routine"), the fifth chapter is summarized by the author of the text in the following passage:
The chapter on perfumery in the text Nagarasarvasva ("The Complete Citizen" or "All About the Sophisticate") by Padmasri has some similarities to the Haramekhala in how it is organized, consisting of a number of aromatic formulae respectively for hair (kesapatavasa), dwelling (grhavasa), mouth (mukhavasa), water (jalavasa), betel-nut (pugaphalam), bathing powder (snaniya).
Perfume names in medieval period are also information on the aspirations expressed through aromatic culture that presents perfume formulae in a playful and literary manner; Dakshinapavana ("Southern Wind"), Chandrarasa ("Moon Juice"), Kandarpadarpa ("Pride of Kama"), Kogacchati? ("Who Goes There?"), Kolahala ("Uproar" or "Fracas"), Champakamoda ("with the perfume of champaka flowers").
Perfume games Prahelikā are literary riddles used as entertainments at gatherings. In perfumery texts these literary riddles need to be solved in order to make incense recipes. The Kamasutra lists Gandhayukti ("Perfume blending") and Prahelikā ("riddles") as one of 64 arts to be learned by a person. Chapter titled "Nagarakavrtti" (‘The Avocation of the Nagaraka’) also describes dinacharya ("daily-routine") of bathing, cosmetics and use of perfumery and incense for various needs. Other Kama-related texts like Nagarasarvasva ("All About the Sophisticate") by Padmasri also describes Gandhaykuti in vastly more detailed manner. In erotic texts and in the surviving complex perfumery texts, perfumery and making perfumes is seen as sensuous and erudite pleasure, almost a high-class game with poetic riddles and puns. Perfumes were seen as indispensable to the goal of pleasure (kama), and the informated consumption of them was a vital part of what it meant to be a cultivated person. Padmasri mentions unknown perfumery text by the author named Lokesvara, it is one of several lost perfumery texts.
Bṛhat Saṃhitā by Varahamihira has a chapter dedicated to Gandhayukti ("Perfume blending"), here Varahamihira provides several formulas with grid patterns, on which perfume ingredients were placed where numerous combinations of perfumes can be made. This mathematical exercises in perfumery may have been a source of intellectual delight for the educated connoisseur of perfume. Surviving perfumery texts additionally contained sophisticated verbal puzzles that seem designed to entertain and impress the cultivated makers and users of perfumes. Those who were well versed in the sixty-four or seventy-two arts and techniques (kala) that defined their education and in addition to this erotic context, it would seem riddles were associated with the literary gathering called the "goṣṭhi". McHugh notes that "the audience was expected to engage in a bewildering, yet pleasurable, contest of intellectual, olfactory, erotic riddles." Therefore, art of perfumery was not entirely olfactory but also included the clever delights of combinatorics and word games. Solving poetic perfume riddles and complex puns of erotic nature, political science, religion etc to make perfume blends were part of perfume making art for the cultivated person.
Lost texts According to historian John McHugh, the earliest surviving texts to treat art of perfumery as main topic of the text in any detail appeared "around the middle of the first millennium CE" and in these texts "perfumery is discussed in context of matters of the body and the bedroom" and that by around the turn of the "first millennium CE, we have evidence of texts devoted entirely to the art of perfumery".
Many texts solely dedicated to perfumery are lost, they exist in fragments in other texts where the authors give credit to these texts for recipes. Only three texts survive, these include two texts named Gandhasara; Gandhasara by Gangadhara and Gandhasara by unknown author, and third text named Gandhavada. Mchung notes that the earliest layer of "Gandhasara, the Essence of Perfume, dating most likely from the early- to mid-second millenium CE" with later additions by several authors up to 13th century. Some of the notable lost perfumery texts include Gandhayukti by Isvara 10th century, Gandhasastra by Bhavadeva 10th century, Gandhatantra by anonymous author 12th century, Unknown title by Prthvisimha 12th century, Gandhasara by Gangadhara 13th century, Gandhasara by unknown author 14th century, Gandhavada by anonymous author 13th century, Parimalapradipa by unknown author 16th century, Gandhaparadipaptrika by unknown author 16th century.
Ingredients The basic ingredients of an incense stick are bamboo sticks, paste (generally made of charcoal dust or sawdust and jiggit" or Jigat a type of adhesive made from the bark of Litsea glutinosa and other trees), and the perfume ingredients – which traditionally would be a masala (powder of ground ingredients), though more commonly is a solvent of perfumes and/or essential oils. After the base paste has been applied to the bamboo stick it is, while still moist, immediately rolled into a fine wood powder, and then left for several days to dry; it may also be dipped into a scented solvent.