Kannauj’s perfumes and all you need to know about the art of perfumery

I used to have a pet-peeve some years back – I could never bring myself to use attar (also ittar). I saw a very pretty glass vial of attar once, but that’s the closest I came to it. Reason being, when I was at an impressionable age, somebody thought it would be funny to tell me that young girls should never use attar, especially in the evenings. If they do, djinns would get attracted and they will haunt you for the rest of your life.

How it stayed on my young mind!



Fast forward several years, I still can’t be around attars but hey, now I know that that was just a very silly and sad prank someone played on me. Not a user but I am definitely fascinated by these Indian perfumes. This fascination intensified the more I read about attars and the small town of Kannauj where it is majorly manufactured in India.




Kannauj perfume or attar-making is not a modern art of perfumery. In fact, in India, the art dates back to thousands of years. One of the oldest, one can safely say.



In Kannauj, perfumery is a skill that gets passed down from one generation to the next, and every perfume maker is proud to have this skill. It definitely sets them apart.


We have all used essential oils; these attars are just that. Made from all natural resources like flowers, musk, camphor, saffron, sandalwood, most of these attars are free of chemicals, alcohol and artificial preservatives.




The most popular one from Kannauj is the rose attar. It is known to be more fragrant than others. But surprisingly that’s not even the most sought after kind. Attar-mitti or the smell of the soil, is what’s most sought after. Yes, the perfumers of Kannauj have replicated petrichor, the earthy fragrance that always follows the first rain shower.



When you visit the historic town of Kannauj, located not too far away from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, you will get this unmistakable hint of flowery fragrances in the air. When they say that perfume is in the soul of Kannauj, that’s because a majority of Kannauj residents are engaged in perfumery. Attars, essential oils, extracts, these are just some of the many end-products that come from Kannauj.



Countries like the UK, USA, Saudi Arabia, UAE, France, Iran and many more are big importers of Kannauj perfumes.



What’s most fascinating about Kannauj’s attar is that even after thousands of years, the perfumers still follow the old traditional technique of deg-bhapka. The traditional method is highly labour intensive – it takes a minimum of 15 days to produce attar – and time consuming.


The process involves a very slow hydro-distillation procedure, where the whole process starts from plucking the flower petals at the right time of the day for better fragrance to just the right amount of fire and perfect degree of heat or cooling.




Attar-making requires precision, which comes only after years and years of practice. You’d be surprised to know that even to this day, the best of these attars and oils are stored in camel skin bags. They expel moisture and keep the product safe for a longer period of time. Fascinating, don’t you think?



In 2014, Kannauj Attars finally got GI-tagged. In case you are wondering, a GI tag is given to a product to protect its region of origin which plays a big role in the history of the product. But even after that, Kannauj perfumes aren’t doing as great as one would have hoped.



Keeping this in mind, very recently the government of Uttar Pradesh announced its plans to develop Kannauj as a perfume destination. All we can do is wait and see how that pans out. Whatever it is, Kannauj’s traditional perfumes deserve special recognition.

1. Why is Kannauj perfume so unique?
   Kannauj perfumes or attars/ittars are manufactured using a technique which is thousands of years old.
2. Where is Kannauj?
   Kannauj is in Uttar Pradesh, approximately 80 km from the city of Kanpur.
3. What is so special about Kannauj's attar?
   Kannauj attars are protected by GI Tag (Geographical Indicator)