Rasbihari Lal & Sons Super Narasimha

 

Sample from Padma Store. Rasbihari Lal & Sons is a Hindu shop in Mathura, the birthplace of Krishna. The business was founded in 1978, and sells a range of Krishna related products as well as incense, predominantly unbranded incense which is what we know as Rasbihari Lal incense, which appears to only be sold outside of India by Padma Store, though can be bought directly from the online Rasbihari Lal. Prices are around $5-$17 (£4-£15) with shipping starting at $30, then - unfortunately and somewhat off-puttingly - increasing rather than decreasing when you increase the order (when it went up to $57 for around 10 items, I decided not to proceed!). Padma Store sells the same incense at around the same price, and with lower shipping costs.  

The sticks are a machine-dipped charcoal-masala on a plain machine-cut bamboo splint, coated in a pleasant woody melnoorva to prevent the moist sticks from gluing together when laid out to dry. The scent is sweet, musky, vanilla, Love Hearts, lemony,  warm woolly - perhaps indicating halmaddi. Overall, quite delicious, and my sort of thing. It's quite uplifting, light, and joyful, yet reassuring and comforting, and with an overall awareness of sensuality and sexuality. Good stuff. 

It's quite an assertive incense on the burn, with fairly rough, crude notes of the dried plants that are the base of the fragrance masala - it holds little of the delicate joyful scent on the stick - which seems oil and/or resin based, and is more like dried leaves burning in the garden. That's not to say it is unpleasant, but is certainly not what I expected, and is certainly not my favourite style of incense, though there are those who like the earthy authenticity of Tibetan incense who would enjoy this. I don't think I will put in an order with Rasbihari Lal, based on this one sample, though I am curious enough to try the sample pack offered by Padma Store. 

The name Super Narasimha suggests it is based on a decent grade essential oil, as "super" is a descriptor often used of oils that are somewhere between basic "fragrant" and "absolute"; however, Narasimha is one of the incarnations of the Hindu god Vishnu. Unclear here is if the "Super" is referring to the quality of the incense, or is a mark of respect for the god.  

It's unclear if the incense is intended to be used for aesthetic purposes, or for ritual or spiritual purposes. The scent on the stick is clearly commercial, and is intended to appeal aesthetically - though that doesn't rule out a religious/spiritual purpose. The scent on the burn, though, is more in line with the therapeutic and/or ritual nature of Tibetan incense, where it is the healing and/or spiritual nature of the ingredients that matters rather than the purely aesthetic quality of the scent. There may be elements of both in this stick. I will include it in my main list rather than place it in my separate Ritual/Spiritual list.

Date: Nov 2022 Score: 25

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