Scent Translations of Mughal & Rajput Garden-Paintings
10th September 2021
Badan gul cehrā gul rukhsār gul lab gul dahan hai gul
Sarāpā ab to voh rashk-i caman hai ḍher phūlon kā
His body a rose, his face a rose, his cheek a rose, a rose his lip, and the mouth, too, is a rose,
From head to toe he is now the envy of the parterre,
a heap of flowers
Naz̤īr Akbarābādī (1735-1830)
Badan gul cehrā gul rukhsār gul lab gul dahan hai gul
Sarāpā ab to voh rashk-i caman hai ḍher phūlon kā
His body a rose, his face a rose, his cheek a rose, a rose his lip, and the mouth, too, is a rose,
From head to toe he is now the envy of the parterre,
a heap of flowers
Naz̤īr Akbarābādī (1735-1830)
Badan gul cehrā gul rukhsār gul lab gul dahan hai gul
Sarāpā ab to voh rashk-i caman hai ḍher phūlon kā
His body a rose, his face a rose, his cheek a rose, a rose his lip, and the mouth, too, is a rose,
From head to toe he is now the envy of the parterre,
a heap of flowers
Naz̤īr Akbarābādī (1735-1830)
Badan gul cehrā gul rukhsār gul lab gul dahan hai gul
Sarāpā ab to voh rashk-i caman hai ḍher phūlon kā
His body a rose, his face a rose, his cheek a rose, a rose his lip, and the mouth, too, is a rose,
From head to toe he is now the envy of the parterre,
a heap of flowers
Naz̤īr Akbarābādī (1735-1830)
Badan gul cehrā gul rukhsār gul lab gul dahan hai gul
Sarāpā ab to voh rashk-i caman hai ḍher phūlon kā
His body a rose, his face a rose, his cheek a rose, a rose his lip, and the mouth, too, is a rose,
From head to toe he is now the envy of the parterre,
a heap of flowers
Naz̤īr Akbarābādī (1735-1830)
Badan gul cehrā gul rukhsār gul lab gul dahan hai gul
Sarāpā ab to voh rashk-i caman hai ḍher phūlon kā
His body a rose, his face a rose, his cheek a rose, a rose his lip, and the mouth, too, is a rose,
From head to toe he is now the envy of the parterre,
a heap of flowers
Naz̤īr Akbarābādī (1735-1830)
Badan gul cehrā gul rukhsār gul lab gul dahan hai gul
Sarāpā ab to voh rashk-i caman hai ḍher phūlon kā
His body a rose, his face a rose, his cheek a rose, a rose his lip, and the mouth, too, is a rose,
From head to toe he is now the envy of the parterre,
a heap of flowers
Naz̤īr Akbarābādī (1735-1830)
Badan gul cehrā gul rukhsār gul lab gul dahan hai gul
Sarāpā ab to voh rashk-i caman hai ḍher phūlon kā
His body a rose, his face a rose, his cheek a rose, a rose his lip, and the mouth, too, is a rose,
From head to toe he is now the envy of the parterre,
a heap of flowers
Naz̤īr Akbarābādī (1735-1830)
Badan gul cehrā gul rukhsār gul lab gul dahan hai gul
Sarāpā ab to voh rashk-i caman hai ḍher phūlon kā
His body a rose, his face a rose, his cheek a rose, a rose his lip, and the mouth, too, is a rose,
From head to toe he is now the envy of the parterre,
a heap of flowers
Naz̤īr Akbarābādī (1735-1830)
Badan gul cehrā gul rukhsār gul lab gul dahan hai gul
Sarāpā ab to voh rashk-i caman hai ḍher phūlon kā
His body a rose, his face a rose, his cheek a rose, a rose his lip, and the mouth, too, is a rose,
From head to toe he is now the envy of the parterre,
a heap of flowers
Naz̤īr Akbarābādī (1735-1830)
Badan gul cehrā gul rukhsār gul lab gul dahan hai gul
Sarāpā ab to voh rashk-i caman hai ḍher phūlon kā
His body a rose, his face a rose, his cheek a rose, a rose his lip, and the mouth, too, is a rose,
From head to toe he is now the envy of the parterre,
a heap of flowers
Naz̤īr Akbarābādī (1735-1830)
Badan gul cehrā gul rukhsār gul lab gul dahan hai gul
Sarāpā ab to voh rashk-i caman hai ḍher phūlon kā
His body a rose, his face a rose, his cheek a rose, a rose his lip, and the mouth, too, is a rose,
From head to toe he is now the envy of the parterre,
a heap of flowers
Naz̤īr Akbarābādī (1735-1830)
Badan gul cehrā gul rukhsār gul lab gul dahan hai gul
Sarāpā ab to voh rashk-i caman hai ḍher phūlon kā
His body a rose, his face a rose, his cheek a rose, a rose his lip, and the mouth, too, is a rose,
From head to toe he is now the envy of the parterre,
a heap of flowers
Naz̤īr Akbarābādī (1735-1830)
Badan gul cehrā gul rukhsār gul lab gul dahan hai gul
Sarāpā ab to voh rashk-i caman hai ḍher phūlon kā
His body a rose, his face a rose, his cheek a rose, a rose his lip, and the mouth, too, is a rose,
From head to toe he is now the envy of the parterre,
a heap of flowers
Naz̤īr Akbarābādī (1735-1830)
Badan gul cehrā gul rukhsār gul lab gul dahan hai gul
Sarāpā ab to voh rashk-i caman hai ḍher phūlon kā
His body a rose, his face a rose, his cheek a rose, a rose his lip, and the mouth, too, is a rose,
From head to toe he is now the envy of the parterre,
a heap of flowers
Naz̤īr Akbarābādī (1735-1830)
Paintings
from Public Collections
Kisī gul men nahīn pāne kī tū bū-i vafā hargiz
‘Abas apnā dil a’e bulbul caman men mat lagā hargiz
You will never find the scent of faithfulness in any rose;
Oh nightingale, never set your heart on the flowerbed in vain.
Mīr ‘Abdulḥai ‘Tābān’ (1715-1749)
Kisī gul men nahīn pāne kī tū bū-i vafā hargiz
‘Abas apnā dil a’e bulbul caman men mat lagā hargiz
You will never find the scent of faithfulness in any rose;
Oh nightingale, never set your heart on the flowerbed in vain.
Mīr ‘Abdulḥai ‘Tābān’ (1715-1749)
Kisī gul men nahīn pāne kī tū bū-i vafā hargiz
‘Abas apnā dil a’e bulbul caman men mat lagā hargiz
You will never find the scent of faithfulness in any rose;
Oh nightingale, never set your heart on the flowerbed in vain.
Mīr ‘Abdulḥai ‘Tābān’ (1715-1749)
Kisī gul men nahīn pāne kī tū bū-i vafā hargiz
‘Abas apnā dil a’e bulbul caman men mat lagā hargiz
You will never find the scent of faithfulness in any rose;
Oh nightingale, never set your heart on the flowerbed in vain.
Mīr ‘Abdulḥai ‘Tābān’ (1715-1749)
Kisī gul men nahīn pāne kī tū bū-i vafā hargiz
‘Abas apnā dil a’e bulbul caman men mat lagā hargiz
You will never find the scent of faithfulness in any rose;
Oh nightingale, never set your heart on the flowerbed in vain.
Mīr ‘Abdulḥai ‘Tābān’ (1715-1749)
Plants & Gardens
Living History
Caman men gul ne jo kal da‘vā’-i jamāl kiyā
Jamāl-i yār ne munh us kā khūb lāl kiyā
The rose that yesterday proclaimed her beauty in the flower bed -
The beauty of my beloved has made her blush deeply
Mīr Taqī ‘Mīr’ (1723-1810)
Sivā’e gul ke voh shokh ankhiyān kisī t̤araf ko nahīn hain rāghib
To barg-i nargis ūpar bajā hai likhūn jo apne sajan kūn patiyān
Those mischievous eyes have no interest in anything but the rose
So it is only right that I should write letters to my lover on narcissus petals
Shākir Nājī (1690-1744)
Caman men gul ne jo kal da‘vā’-i jamāl kiyā
Jamāl-i yār ne munh us kā khūb lāl kiyā
The rose that yesterday proclaimed her beauty in the flower bed -
The beauty of my beloved has made her blush deeply
Mīr Taqī ‘Mīr’ (1723-1810)
Sivā’e gul ke voh shokh ankhiyān kisī t̤araf ko nahīn hain rāghib
To barg-i nargis ūpar bajā hai likhūn jo apne sajan kūn patiyān
Those mischievous eyes have no interest in anything but the rose
So it is only right that I should write letters to my lover on narcissus petals
Shākir Nājī (1690-1744)
Objects
from Public & Private Collections
Synesthesia
Perfume & Flavour Translations
The Process
Notes between the historian and perfumer
June - August 2021
Bharti:
Nicolas, help me read this painting that you've selected for our scent translation: Maharana Jagat Singh II celebrating the Festival of Flowers in the Gulab Bari Garden (1750)
- is it summer? The celebration in the rose garden is obvious but what do the overall registers of the painting tell us? I would list rose, saffron, cypress, wine, honey, horse/ hay/ dung, perhaps a fruit (mango), and maybe nutmeg for the perfume. Can you identify the trees?
Nicolas:
It is spring; the lowest register shows the Rana processing to the garden, and the upper register sitting in the garden with his nobles, with a group of entertainers at the right. Among the piles of rose garlands there are also poppies and larkspur on the platters on the chabutra. I think rose, cypress, wine, and horse/ hay definitely make sense. Perhaps also charcoal/ash, as associated with the sanyasis/ Shiva that the entertainers are imitating. And there appears to be an actual sadhu sitting near the elephant in the forecourt. The trees appear to be generic leafy trees, probably figs of various sorts (peepal, gular…).
Bharti:
But poppies and larkspurs have no discernable scent.