I am not a fan of incense made in Pondicherry and Auroville, as it tends to be a little dry and harsh for my taste, and a little old fashioned and mono-scented. The Mother's Fragrances, and the stronger The Mother's India Fragrances was set up in Pondicherry in 1975, and has been distributed in the UK by Greater Goods since the year 2000, and in the US by the New Hampshire based Mere Cie Deux via their Etsy shop. The packaging colours put me in mind of Auroshikha, who also sell the incense made by the Pondicherry community, though I'm unclear on the distinction between Mother's branded incense and Auroshikha branded incense.
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| The colourful packet |
My Yoga stick comes from a sample pack of The Mother's India Fragrances. These packs are on sale in many incense shops in the UK, and are sometimes sent out as free samples with orders from online shops.
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| Contents of a typical sample pack |
I've been burning The Mother's incense now and again for over ten years, and, as with other Pondicherry made incense, I have a less than positive attitude toward it. Yet, the reviews I have done in that time (only four at this moment) have reasonably positive scores - though on reading the reviews, they do indicate a certain discomfort with the rough Pondicherry nature of the sticks (largely conjectured at the time to be due to my reaction to the terpenes in halmaddi, though I am less certain of that these days). The scores seem a little higher than my comments justify, and I wonder what I would score those sticks if reviewing them today.
That said, I have been enjoying this Yoga with its curiously attractive balance of sandalwood and floral notes. The fragrance ingredients are shown as sandalwood, oakmoss, patchouli, and vetiver - not scents one would think of as floral as they all tend to hover around musky, sweet, and earthy (and those attributes are certainly here), but there are some floral top notes, especially on the stick, along with fresh citric. It's a lively and fairly modern scent. Not the sort of thing I associate with Pondicherry.
There are little prickles in the scent on the stick which catch at the back of my nose, so this is possibly activating my terpenes sensitivity. There are terpenes present in tree resins such as frankincense, benzoin, and halmaddi, all of which are used as fragrant fixatives; however, it tends to be the halmaddi resin that provokes my sensitivity. At the same time, in the Tamil Nadu region where The Mother's incense is made, the incense makers sometimes use the residue left over from distilling resins and spices. The residue is a little harsh and peppery when burned, but the locals are used to it and like it. I'm not sure if the prickles in my nose comes from a use of halmaddi as the fragrance fixative, or if it is the use of the resin residue. Or it might even be something else.
The scent is assertive when burned. Not heady and perfumed so much as bullish and strong. It kinda pushes its way into the room and stamps gruffly for attention. I find it is a scent best burned at a remote distance, and with plenty of ventilation. It's each to their own, though I suspect that those who like delicate incense might not get along with this. While I generally like heady incense, the strength of this stick is not my thing, as the impact appears to come more from the non-fragrant ingredients, such as the possible use of halmaddi and/or resin residue. The more delicate floral and citric notes are less noticeable on the burn, but are still there, and they lift this incense above the norm. The musky, sweet, woody base, is beautifully contrasted now and again by the more lively and light floral and citric notes.
For me there are flaws in this stick, some of which are likely to be fairly personal, which prevent full enjoyment. However, I have appreciated this scent. I like that it is fairly modern with an interesting blend that brings together woody, earthy, musky notes with lighter, more joyful and beautiful floral and citric notes. (And while there are no named fragrant ingredients which would suggest floral notes, they are nevertheless present for me).
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