Ranga Rao Cycle Brand Pushkarini

 

I really like these masala sticks. Proper job masala from Ranga Rao's Cycle brand, one of the Top Incense Brands in India. 98 rupees (approx 98p) from the excellent Aavyaa online store who ship to Europe (shipping prices have risen steeply since my order in Feb of this year, but are still reasonable, and Aarvaa are a great way to discover top quality authentic domestic Indian incense).  The box is large, solid, and attractive, with an old school look. The box claims that the incense is "made with sacred temple flowers", and has a 1950s magazine style illustration of several flowers, along with a temple and a pool in front of it. The temple pool is where the Pushkarini name comes from - other names include kalyani, kunda, sarovara, tirtha, talab, pukhuri, and ambalakkuḷam. They are places of ritual cleansing; so we might assume that the smoke and aroma from this incense is intended for the same purpose - to cleanse. 

The sticks are standard masala - a charcoal paste has been hand rolled onto a plain machine-cut bamboo splint and then coated in a woody powder. Fragrant oils have been used as part of the ingredients. The scent on the stick is pleasant - natural, floral (jasmine mostly, with some rose and begonia in the mix), also some notes of lemon and of cat pee (which could be lilies).  The hand rolling is pretty decent, though there are lumps and twists. All in all at this stage I'm sort of pre-disposed toward this incense because of the packaging, the producer, the target audience (this is a domestic incense, not intended for the Western market, so feels authentic), the production method, and the scent on the stick. While I am pre-disposed, I'm not actually excited as the scent is pleasant and promising, but not heavenly. There are woody, resinous base notes on the stick, which interest me more than the floral and lemon top notes, but the top notes do dominate. As I'm not a huge fan of floral scents, I'm finding the scent more pleasing than engaging. I'm kinda neutral about it, though I like its freshness. The melody of floral notes holds off from being assertive or overbearing or too heady, and gently informs the room with a sense of floral masala, so there's lots positive here, but it lacks definition or balance or harmony, and doesn't engage my interest by offering something new or unexpected. 

When I noted above that the box says "made with sacred temple flowers", I didn't understand that the flowers are not just the same type of flowers that are offered at temples, but the actual flowers themselves. The flowers are left at three temples: Nanjundeshwara, Chamundeshwari and Sri Lakshmi Venkataramanaswamy Temple in Mysuru, and then later collected by Cycle, sorted, dried, powdered, and used in the incense, along with "a divine fragrance", which is the fragrant oil or perfume that can be detected on the stick.  I'd heard about incense being made from the flowers left at temples - though I'm not sure if it was this particular incense I'd heard about, or another. So I looked - Phool do it; and Kailapira, and so do others. I haven't researched enough to find out who started doing it, though Phool appear to promote it quite heavily, and have made it popular.  

Due to other distractions, it has taken me a while to write this review, so while I am now going to study the aroma of the burning incense, I have been burning the sticks now and again, though quite casually. The impression I've had while burning them casually is that the aroma is quite modest, gentle, fresh, dry, earthy (dry earth, but not dust), floral, but not bright or clear. Generally modestly attractive. Not an incense to attract attention either positively or negatively. 

As I'm burning now I have to say that by and large I agree with the general impression I had from the casual burnings. The scent is warm, dry, pleasant, hovering between masala and perfumed, with a general sense of dried flowers and mild spice. The top notes are not bright or sharp - there's floral, though quite mixed, and leaning perhaps more toward rose. There's some faint citric notes, soft lemon, some geranium. Mid notes are the mild spice - a bit of cumin. Bases notes are mild wood. There isn't much of a range - the top and base notes are fairly close together. And there's isn't much variation in the scents - they tend to hover around a vague dried flower fragrance.  This is, because of the lack of bright notes, lack of musky notes, lack of variety, etc not going to be one of my top favourite incenses, however I find it to be good quality, attractive, and decent value for money, with a great story.  Essentially, while not exciting or overwhelming me, I really like this incense, and would be happy to buy more.  Recommended. 

Date: June 2023   Score: 39   

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Ranga Rao