SANDALWOOD

Indian Perfume Royalty

Chandana (Santalum album, Shri Gandha, Aninditha) is both a banalized part of everyday India and a sacred element of holy ritual. Mentioned in the Ramayana as generously gifting its scent to the axe that cuts it, Sandalwood is one of perfumery’s noblest raw materials. Most expert perfumers consider the subcontinent’s trees to yield the most preciously evocative sandalwood on Earth. Designated a Royal Tree in the seventies by the Sultan of Mysore, Indian sandalwood is currently a protected species and strict rules govern its usage in order to ensure its future.

Sandalwood is a not a dry woody note. Characterized as lactonic, depending on its origin and age, the fattiness and sweetness of its milky profile varies. The beta santalol which powers Indian Sandalwood has a magical warming profile, creamy with a certain sweetness. Used for millennia in Ayurvedic practice, it is also referred to in numerous ancient in medieval texts in perfume composition (cf Gandhasara, Nimatnama and others) and in key Kannauji accords today.

In a nod to its preeminence and beauty, each and every ALASA BOMBAY fragrance includes Sandalwood oil.