Elephant with Saltcellar | Rose

Bagh-e Hind

Scent Translations of Mughal & Rajput Garden-Paintings

10th September 2021

Maharana Jagat Singh II celebrating the
Festival of Flowers in the Gulab Bari Garden

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)

Maharana Jagat Singh II celebrating the
Festival of Flowers in the Gulab Bari Garden

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

Maharana Sangram Singh celebrating the spring festival with his nobles in the rose garden in Udaipur

Maharana Amar Singh II's Holi durbar in the Sarvaritu Vilas garden

Akhairaj with Courtiers and Musicians in a Garden

Kunwar Ajit Singh's revels in a garden

A guide to arboriculture

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)

Maharana Sangram Singh celebrating the spring festival with his nobles in the rose garden in Udaipur

Maharana Amar Singh II's Holi durbar in the Sarvaritu Vilas garden

Akhairaj with Courtiers and Musicians in a Garden

Kunwar Ajit Singh's revels in a garden

A guide to arboriculture

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)

Maharana Sangram Singh celebrating the spring festival with his nobles in the rose garden in Udaipur

Maharana Amar Singh II's Holi durbar in the Sarvaritu Vilas garden

Akhairaj with Courtiers and Musicians in a Garden

Kunwar Ajit Singh's revels in a garden

Plants & Gardens

Living History

Rosa ‘Gruß an Teplitz’

Rosa ‘Gruß an Teplitz’ in the garden

A bloom of Rosa ‘Gloire de Guilan'

Damask rose (Rosa ‘Gloire de Guilan’) among pansies (Viola x wittrockiana) and sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima)

Rosa ‘Old Blush’

A bloom of Rosa ‘Gloire de Guilan,’ a historic variety of Damask rose from Iran of the type typically used for rose water production

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)

Arabian jasmine (Jasminum sambac ‘Belle of India’)

Jasmine buds

View of part of the gardens of the tomb of I’timād al-dawlah in Agra, featuring jasmine and oleander

A blue larkspur (Consolida sp.) and red opium poppy (Papaver somniferum)

Larkspur (Consolida sp.) and Shirley poppies (Papaver rhoeas)

Opium poppies (Papaver somniferum)

A view in the Saheliyon kī bāṛī in Udaipur, originally built in the first half of the eighteenth century

Opium poppies (Papaver somniferum)

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)

Rosa ‘Gruß an Teplitz’

Rosa ‘Gruß an Teplitz’ in the garden

A bloom of Rosa ‘Gloire de Guilan'

Damask rose (Rosa ‘Gloire de Guilan’) among pansies (Viola x wittrockiana) and sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima)

Rosa ‘Old Blush’

A bloom of Rosa ‘Gloire de Guilan,’ a historic variety of Damask rose from Iran of the type typically used for rose water production

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)

Arabian jasmine (Jasminum sambac ‘Belle of India’)

Jasmine buds

View of part of the gardens of the tomb of I’timād al-dawlah in Agra, featuring jasmine and oleander

A blue larkspur (Consolida sp.) and red opium poppy (Papaver somniferum)

Larkspur (Consolida sp.) and Shirley poppies (Papaver rhoeas)

Opium poppies (Papaver somniferum)

A view in the Saheliyon kī bāṛī in Udaipur, originally built in the first half of the eighteenth century

Opium poppies (Papaver somniferum)

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)

Elephant with Saltcellar

Objects

from Public & Private Collections

Synesthesia

Perfume & Flavour Translations

Roses being prepared for distillation in Kannauj

Roses being prepared for distillation in Kannauj

Traditional Hydro-distillation

Traditional hydrodistillation

Synesthesia Set

Gulab Bari

Concept sketches for contemporary glass vials produced for Bagh-e Hind

The glass maker at his studio

Test piece for an elephant stopper

Concept sketches to reality

Concept sketches to reality

Concept sketches to reality

Marigold CO2 extract

Jasmine Grandiflorum CO2 extract

Sandalwood CO2 extract

Gulab Bari Edible Perfume (TM)

Mitti/ Clay/Soil Edible Perfume (TM)

Mitti/ Clay/Soil Edible Perfume (TM)

Gulab Bari tea

Gulab bari tea

Vintage bowl

Powder Rose incense

'Bagh-i Babur',
Outer-soap shell

'Bagh-i Babur', Kabul,
Outer-soap shell

Garden architecture soap

The Process

Notes between the historian and perfumer
June - August 2021

The Process

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.

Nicolas:

They possess a narcotic powderiness...

Bharti:

Perfume composition: