Vakratund is the brand name of a fairly young incense company, United Fragrances, who were founded in Ahmedabad, on the upper Western coast of India, in 2011. Vakratund is one of the names of Lord Ganesh, the elephant god. I bought this earlier this year as part of a combo deal from Aavyaa.com of six different scents for ₹1,240.00 (approx £12). Unfortunately they no longer sell Vakratund, and I'm not seeing sources in the UK which sell this. It's available in India direct from United Fragrances for ₹125; and there are other Vakratund incenses available on Amazon and eBay, but not this particular one - nor any of the other Premium Masala Dhoop Sticks in this set. Each box in the series contains a clay stand for the dhoop, and a box of matches - so you're all ready to go! All self-contained.
The Western market hasn't quite caught onto Indian dhoops just yet. Japanese and Tibetan dhoops are popular, but not Indian, so not many authentic Indian dhoops make their way into Europe or America - and if they do, they will generally be found in Indian or Asian grocer shops, rather than the usual incense outlets. I can understand the reluctance, because some Indian dhoops, the wet ones mostly, are incredibly heady and smoky, and appear to be more about smudging the house to cleanse it of bad spirits and insects rather than delivering a balanced and thoughtful olfactory experience.
The box is attractive - it slides open, as do a number of better quality dhoop boxes, and contains the sealed-foil packet of dhoop sticks, a box of matches, and a clay dhoop stand. The box cover is decorated with floral designs in shimmering gold on a calm green background. Very pleasing. The dhoops are a medium thickness - approx 0.5cm, and 10cm long. It looks like the sticks are cut into 10cm sections from a longer extruded roll.
I don't know the meaning of Valakuchi, though suspect it has something to do with vetiver: the subtitle is "Pious Fragrance of Khus". Khus being another name for vetiver. The scent on the stick is quite heady and intense. Sharp, musky, sweet, earthy, damp, lemon, soap, mouldy petals, and something animal - sweaty horse perhaps. Fascinating. There are elements in the scent that would be found in a vetiver scent, but this is way dirtier and boggy and peaty. It's stuff like this which keeps me interested in exploring incense.
The scent on the burn is somewhat lighter than on the stick, more joyful and less dirty and less sexy. It is sweet and natural with elements of camphor - herbal, and exciting, opening up the airways, hints of eucalyptus, floral notes, rose and lavender; and grounding it all are touches of caramel and patchouli. This is a fascinating, shifting, always lovely fragrance. It's not an overwhelming scent. it is steady and firm, but quite light and gentle, gradually informing the room, and then lingering pleasantly for hours afterwards. Still shifting....
Oh yes. I like this.
Valakuchi looks like it’s Vetiver, I saw it in once website which sells things for Jain rituals.
ReplyDeleteThat was also my conclusion, though I could find nothing certain. However, I did note that searches for "valakuchi" would sometimes retern vetiver results, even if the word "valakuchi" was not found on the websites.
Delete