What Makes a Rose a Rose (original) (raw)

Marg, vol. 75, no. 2: Histories of Indian Perfume, 2023

Abstract

This piece provides a brief overview of the history of roses in South Asia, focusing in particular on the damask roses that are the primary source of rose water and rose oil and which were the predominant garden roses in the region for centuries, as well as the more modern hybrids that eventually begun supplanting them in the nineteenth century. In doing so, it highlights “roses” as a somewhat shifting cultural category. In addition, it explores the incorporation of roses and rose products into South Asian fragrance culture, which despite being comparatively recent development in the long history of perfumery in the Indian Subcontinent, has come to define the regional olfactory landscape on a fundamental level.

Nicolas Roth hasn't uploaded this document.

Let Nicolas know you want this document to be uploaded.

Ask for this document to be uploaded.