Pushkar incense (sometimes termed "Pushkar Temple") Kirtan

 

Kirtan is a form of  Indian religious performance art. The scent on the stick is volatile, sharp, chemical, dusty, floor polish, wood shavings. Something of a noisy clash of scents. There are florals, woods, and resins melded with plastics, pine disinfectant, and room freshener synthetics. Hard to make sense of it. There's Lady Esquire shoe conditioner, mouldy leather, damp florals, dirty old wood, and through it all that chemical volatility. Quite fascinating, though also quite ugly. And simply too much. I like heady, but this has been loaded with cheap synthetics and agarbatti oil until it assaults your face like acid. What holds it back is the ancient wood- that ties down the acidic volatility, and the whole is then smothered in rancid leather and damp, decaying flowers. It's weird. Though not unusual - I've encountered other Indian incenses which go for heady with plenty of cheap oils rather than constructing something more balanced. But the crudeness and aromatic weight of this stick does stand out. 

It is considerably smoky and heady when burned. It invades the house like a virus. I like heady incense, but only when it is done with imagination, skill, and knowledge, like Balaji. This is just too crude to be appealing. The scent on the burn is harsh and ugly. It hovers on the edge of the smell of burning hair. There's burning wood, extremely dark roasted coffee beans, burnt toast. The florals do emerge to sweeten and soften the smell of burning, and it sort of resolves into a sombre, brown scent with occasional touches of colour. I've not been impressed with this range of incenses from Pushkar, and at this point I'm not that interested in working hard at the scents, trying to resolve the pleasant from the mess. Put simply, I don't like this. I think it's a crude mess.  

Date: Jan 2025   Score: 12 

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Pushkar incense