House signatureGulab Attar
Kannauj rose, fifteen passes into sandalwood
Heart · Damask rose, honey
₹1,4503 · 6 · 12 mlRated 4.9 out of 5 from 386 reviews
Kannauj · since 1887
Attar, the slow way. Distilled in copper, aged in leather.
Rose petals picked before sunrise, monsoon earth baked in clay kilns, kewda from the Ganjam coast - each one hydro-distilled in our copper degs into pure sandalwood oil. No alcohol, no synthetics, nothing hurried.
- Alcohol-free
- Deg-bhapka distilled
- Aged in leather
- Cash on Delivery
From the attar chest
The house attars
House signature
New batchMitti Attar
The smell of first rain on baked earth
Heart · Baked river clay, petrichor
₹8903 · 6 · 12 mlRated 4.8 out of 5 from 512 reviews
Kewda Attar
Screwpine flower from the Ganjam coast
Heart · Kewda (screwpine) flower, honey
₹1,1503 · 6 · 12 mlRated 4.7 out of 5 from 214 reviews
Winter blendShamama Attar
Forty herbs, spices and resins, aged two years
Heart · Oakmoss, valerian, kapur kachri
Sale price ₹2,400Regular price ₹2,8003 · 6 · 12 mlRated 4.9 out of 5 from 177 reviews
RareOud al Hind
Pure Assam agarwood oil
Heart · Honeyed agarwood, resin
₹4,8003 · 6 · 12 mlRated 4.9 out of 5 from 96 reviews
Hina Attar
Henna blossom, herbs and spice
Heart · Henna blossom, saffron
₹1,6503 · 6 · 12 mlRated 4.7 out of 5 from 143 reviews
Motia Attar
Jasmine sambac, picked at dusk
Heart · Jasmine sambac, creamy floral
₹1,2503 · 6 · 12 mlRated 4.8 out of 5 from 228 reviews
Resting · sold outKhus Attar
Vetiver root, the cool of summer
Heart · Vetiver root, earth
₹9903 · 6 · 12 mlRated 4.6 out of 5 from 189 reviews
Reading an attar
Top, heart and base
An attar is not one smell but three, revealed in turn as the oil warms on your skin. Here is how Gulab Attar unfolds - every attar on the shelf lists its pyramid the same way.
Shop Gulab Attar- Top notesFresh rose petal, green leaf, a trace of lemonThe first 15 minutes
- Heart notesDamask rose, honeyFrom the first hour to the fourth
- Base notesMysore sandalwood, soft muskAll day, and on fabric for days
Deg & bhapka
Two thousand years of distilling, in one courtyard
Our distillers still work the way Kannauj always has. Fresh petals go into a copper deg with spring water; the mouth is sealed with clay, and a bamboo pipe carries the steam into a bhapka - a long-necked copper receiver resting in a cooling tank - already filled with sandalwood oil. Over fifteen hours the vapour condenses into the oil, and the next day it is done again with fresh flowers. A good gulab attar takes twelve to fifteen of these passes. Then it rests for a year in kuppis of camel leather, which breathe out the water and leave only the scent.
- I
Deg
Fresh petals, herbs or baked earth are sealed with water in a copper deg over a wood fire.
- II
Bhapka
Steam runs down a bamboo pipe into a copper receiver of sandalwood oil, cooling in a tank.
- III
Passes
The deg is emptied and refilled day after day - up to fifteen times for a single gulab.
- IV
Kuppi
The attar rests a year in camel-leather kuppis that breathe out water and round the scent.
3 · 6 · 12 ml
Choosing a size
- 3 ml≈ 60 wearsFor trying an attar, or a pocket
- 6 ml≈ 120 wearsA season of daily wear
- 12 ml≈ 240 wearsYour signature, for the year
How to wear an attar
- 1Warm the dauber between your fingers for a moment.
- 2Touch it to the pulse points - wrists, behind the ears, the hollow of the throat.
- 3Do not rub. Let the oil settle and open on its own.
- 4For the longest wear, add one touch to the collar or a cotton handkerchief.
Longevity. Florals last six to ten hours on skin, earth and oud attars twelve or more - and every attar lasts for days on cotton and wool. Each product lists its own.
This season
New from the deg
Hina Attar
₹1,6503 · 6 · 12 ml
Oud Bakhoor
₹750
RareOud al Hind
₹4,8003 · 6 · 12 ml
Kewda Attar
₹1,1503 · 6 · 12 ml
Eid & wedding gifting
A chest of attars for the people you love
Attar is the oldest gift in the subcontinent: given at Eid after the morning namaz, dabbed on the groom’s collar, sent home with every wedding guest. Our carved sheesham chests hold three or six attars on a velvet bed, with a dauber for each and a hand-lettered card in Urdu, Hindi or English. For wedding favours we fill 1 ml vials by the hundred and tie each with your colours.
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Most worn
The house favourites
- House signature
Gulab Attar
₹1,4503 · 6 · 12 ml - Winter blend
Shamama Attar
Sale price ₹2,400Regular price ₹2,8003 · 6 · 12 ml 
Eid giftingEid & Wedding Gift Chest
Sale price ₹3,900Regular price ₹4,400- Rare
Oud al Hind
₹4,8003 · 6 · 12 ml - New batch
Mitti Attar
₹8903 · 6 · 12 ml 
Start here
What every vial promises
- Alcohol-free, alwaysPure botanical distillate in sandalwood or natural base oil - gentle on skin, permissible for prayer.
- Distilled, not compoundedEvery attar is made by deg-bhapka hydro-distillation in our own Kannauj courtyard. Batch number on every vial.
- Sealed and sent safelyWax-sealed vials, upright padded boxes, 3-5 days across India. Cash on Delivery and GST invoice on request.
- GST invoice on requestFor weddings, Eid gifting and corporate orders.
Bara Bazaar, Kannauj
Five generations at the same copper degs
Lala Daulat Ram set up four copper degs in a courtyard off Bara Bazaar in 1887, distilling rose and kewda for the perfumers of Lucknow and the Awadh court. The courtyard is still ours, and two of those first degs are still in use.
His great-great-grandchildren run the house today. We buy roses from the same Kannauj growers each spring, bake mitti from the same riverbank clay before the monsoon, and age every attar in leather kuppis before it is bottled. Nothing is diluted with alcohol and nothing is rushed.
- Distilling in Kannauj since
- 1887Distilling in Kannauj since
- One pass of the deg
- 15 hrsOne pass of the deg
- Aged in leather kuppis
- 1 yearAged in leather kuppis
From the register
Words left at the counter
Rated 4.8 out of 54.8 from 4 recent reviews
My grandfather wore Kannauj shamama every winter. I had given up finding one that smelled like his coat - this is it, warm and spiced and still on my wrist the next morning.
We ordered four hundred 1 ml mitti vials as wedding favours. Every one arrived tied in our marigold ribbon, and guests were still asking about them a month later.
The gulab is nothing like the synthetic rose sprays. It opens bright and green, then settles into sandalwood for hours. One dab behind each ear is enough.
Letters from the courtyard
Know when the rose season’s first gulab is ready
A short letter each season: what is in the degs, when the mitti is being baked, and early access to Eid and Diwali gift chests. Nothing more.