Gift pack of six glossy hexagonal packets of
perfumed incense with a theme of Hindu gods from
Hari Darshan. The contents are given as the same in each: a mix of powdered spices (cinnamon, cardamom, clove, etc), herbs, resins, and
cosmetic-grade fragrance, which, like
agarbatti oil, contains a blend of
essential oils (natural) and
DEP (synthetic scents). They are all professionally made - very neat and precise machine extruded charcoal paste onto a machine cut bamboo stick. I'm not entirely convinced that there are powdered spices in this incense. They all appear to be a simple charcoal paste impregnated with some form of liquid fragrance or perfume. Though it's hard to pin down exact ingredients, and they could well contain the spices.
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| Ingredients list |
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| Lord Vishnu |
Vishnu (or Hari) is the supreme being within Hinduism; he is known as The Preserver, and as The Protector of Good; whenever the world is in turmoil, he will descend and restore peace. He is shown with a blue skin and four arms. The scent on the stick is very fruity and yummy. It is distinctly perfumed - a sweet, feminine perfume, quite light and joyful with hints of Chanel No 5 - small, crisp, cool drops of rose and jasmine.
It is slightly darker, deeper on the burn, but still (almost relentlessly) pleasant. The floral notes are clearer, less sweet, more, well "floral", with jasmine to the fore. It doesn't have the cool, crisp elusive fragrance of the stick, and is mostly, well, generic; however, it's a decent, professionally made, everyday perfumed incense.
Date: Feb 2022 Score: 28
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| Lord Shiva |
Shiva is one of the oldest Hindu gods, and is an amalgamation of early gods, so contains some contradictions, being both a creator and a destroyer. The scent on the stick is rather simplistic pine toilet cleaner. The scent on the stick is generic bargain basement perfumed incense/room freshener. There's pine and lemon and - well, you get the idea. Rather boring. It is, to be fair, well made, so what I smell is the perfume and not the bamboo stick - it's just that the choice of perfume is rather dull and unfortunate. Burn this in your house and people will think that you've just been cleaning up an unpleasant accident. On the other hand, it's not offensive, and is generally pleasant.
Date: Feb 2022 Score: 23
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| Shree Ganesha |
Ganesha is usually depicted with an elephant head, and is the remover of obstacles and the god of new beginnings. It's a typical toiler cleaner perfumed incense aroma on the stick - a little sharp, and reminiscent of pine disinfectant. The burn is more pleasant. There are some musky notes - the deeper tones assisting the overall impression, along with mixed floral notes, heavy and creamy like magnolia. It's fairly generic "perfumed incense", but quite acceptable as lower end everyday incense to burn just to refresh a room or for some other domestic functional everyday use. Yeah, it's not bad. I kinda like it in a modest way.
Date: March 2022 Score: 27
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| Maha Lakshmi |
Lakshmi is one of the leading Hindu female gods; she has a number of associations: wealth, love, beauty, abundance, etc. Chemical perfume aroma on the stick, dark fruit tones. It's a bit better on the burn, a bright, dark fruit aroma, though clearly synthetic. This is a modest incense which simply aims to produce a scent to brighten a room. It does that. And it does that quite professionally. But it's not a profound scent. It's clearly industrial and functional. Ho hum.
Date: March 2022 Score: 24
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| Jai Hanuman |
Hanuman is the god of wisdom, strength and courage. This is a toilet cleaner perfumed incense, smelling of chemicals, pine, and disinfectant on the stick. It is fairly assertive on the burn producing a generic "perfumed incense" scent. Not offensive, there are floral notes, but no different to some chemical room fresheners. Box says "hand rolled in India", which is clearly bollocks, as this is a machine-extruded stick.
Date: March 2022 Score: 23
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| Shree Krishna |
Krishna is probably the most well known Hindu god in the West. There is a distinct patchouli note to the scent on the stick, though it's mixed up with the volatile disinfectant and fabric conditioner scent familiar to everyday perfumed incense sticks. It's kinda smoky and irritating on the burn, and my eyes are smarting a bit. But that could be because I have burned rather a lot of these lower end everyday perfumed incense sticks from Hari Darshan today. The scent on the stick is rather floral, and is lighter in tone than the scent on the stick.
Date: March 2022 Score: 23
Conclusion
Hari Darshan is one of the
top incense brands domestically in India. They focus on perfumed incense for the domestic market, and both perfumed and masala (which appears to be perfumed) for the Western market. The incenses are all professionally made, but to a budget. More thought appears to be given to the packaging or marketing than the incense itself. And that is true here. The boxes in the set are all highly coloured, and there is an interesting theme of Hindu gods, giving an attractive
desi appeal. The incense inside the boxes is too obviously artificial and simple to have a deep appeal, and though the scents are borderline toilet freshener, they mostly nudge over into lower end everyday incense that can be casually and inoffensively burned in the house just to quickly brighten it up. Cheap and cheerful best sums them up. Not an incense to recommend, but they are not offensive, are actually reasonably everyday pleasant, and work well in a modest way.
Date: March 2023 Overall score: 22
Update April 2023: I put the packet in our outhouse where we keep our veg and wine, and where we feed the cats, and have been gradually working through them when I went out to feed the cats. They have served a useful purpose in brightening up the outhouse with a series of modest, but sweetly pleasant everyday scents. I wouldn't be averse to getting this gift pack again as a low cost casual everyday burner for certain rooms in the house.
Date: April 2023 Overall score: 28
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