The scent of royalty

The growing demand for attar has given a boom to family businesses

KARACHI: Attar [also called ittar] has been a popularly used and loved fragrance for centuries. Extracted from flower petals, herbs and spices, this natural perfume oil is distilled in water using low heat and pressure. Attar first gained popularity amongst the Arabs, who used it as a natural non-alcoholic perfume, and eventually took to the markets as far as the Western world and the Indian subcontinent at the hands of traders.

One such trader was Anwar Raees Ansari’s grandfather. He established his attar business in the subcontinent and before the creation of Pakistan. At the time, he would send his son to Karachi to sell attar in the market.

Years later in 1950, his son Raees Ahmed Ansari, who had migrated to Pakistan and settled in Karachi, opened his attar shop which became the first centre of attar sale in Karachi.

Today, Kannauj Attar House, is one of the biggest and oldest attar shops in the city, owned and run by Anwar Raees Ansari. Most of their products are traded in from Kannauj, a city in Uttar Pradesh, India, which include Oud and Mushk fragrances in addition to various types of attar.

For Ansari, selling attar is not a business, but a way of life. This is why his son and grandchildren are also now associated with the family business.



Rising in popularity

In 1954, King of Saudi Arabia Saud bin Abdulaziz, visited Pakistan and it was at that time, narrated Ansari, that the king bought attar from his father’s shop.

According to Ansari, countless small attar shops had opened at Jama Cloth Market by that time but they would still buy their products from Kannauj Attar House. King Saud visited the shop in public protocol along with his delegation and bought all the Oud fragrance stock.

Ansari narrated that his father used to tell him stories of King Saud’s polite, humble and respectful personality. His father also told him that the cash handed over by King Saud for the attar and Oud fragrances was so much that his hands shook while receiving it.

Many other renowned personalities of Pakistan have also been clients of Kannauj Attar House including judges and bureaucrats while many customers have shifted abroad but still visit the shop whenever they come to Pakistan.

Imported attars

The use of attar can be classified according to the season, customer taste and value, said Ansari. In summers, light fragrances are used while in winters, strong ones are preferred. Costly attars include those that are prepared naturally from flower petals, spices and herbs, but they have now been replaced by comparatively cheaper alcohol-free fragrances imported from France, Germany, China and England.

Alcohol-free fragrances are also sold as attars in these shops. With the popularity of English scents, traditional scents of rose, sandal and jasmine are now losing their popularity.

English scents are sold at reasonable prices ranging from Rs100-500, that are the most commonly sold while the costly ones range from Rs4000-5000, for which the market is still limited.

Ansari said that the demand for locally-made attars has fallen to a great extent due to the demand and popularity of imported scents, which are often mistaken to be cheaper. According to Ansari, this is not the case as 10 tola of attar is derived from 10,000kg of flower petals. This implies that rose and motia [Jasminum sambac flower] attar cost Rs40,000 per tola while the original Oud attar costs Rs180,000 per tola.

Many shopkeepers are also selling second and third quality of attars for as much as Rs500 per tola.

Trends and usage

Ever since the 1990s, the trend of using fragrances has increased by more than a hundred percent. With the growing inclination towards religion, especially amongst the youngsters, the demand for non-alcoholic perfumes has greatly increased.

According to Ansari, as people learn that applying attar is sunnah, their inclination towards its use increases, especially in the month of Ramazan. For special religious gatherings in Ramazan, Jummah prayers [Fridays] and on the occasion of Eid, men, women and children, in a great capacity use attars.

Owing to the inflation and devaluation of the rupee, prices of attars have increased by 10-30%. Attar is considered to be an additional expenditure while the low-income class considers it to be a luxury product and hence they use it only on special occasions.

The trend to gift attar in attractive bottles to friends and families during Ramazan is also becoming popular.

Apart from traditional markets, people can be seen selling attar outside mosques at make-shift stalls.

Attractive attar bottles

Known for the sale of attar, chemicals used in fragrances and beautiful bottles, Botal Gali in Light House area, Saddar, is a famous street in Karachi. Glass bottles with an exotic and admirable look, used to store and sell attar in, are sold in this street. Locally-made and imported bottles are available that are purchased by customers to use as decoration pieces in their homes, as gifts, or to fill attar in them. 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 21^st, 2019.