Petaled lake

Enlarge Image Image Gallery

Jim Long welcomes readers’ questions or comments; you may e-mail him directly at lcherbs@tri-lakes.net, or tour his gardens at www.longcreekherbs.com.

I’ve often read about the famous attar of roses, but since it is almost as expensive as gold, I’ve never actually bought any. Attar of rose is the essence, the actual oil from the rose. I learned of its legendary beginning while traveling in India this year. My friend and guide, Puneet, told me the enchanting story of attar of roses.

In the early 1600s, Princess Nur Mahal was being courted by the great Moughal Emperor Jahangir. He would do anything to please her. One day, probably to test him, she asked that a small lake be covered over with the weight of an elephant in rose petals.

So with great flourish and fanfare, Emperor Jahangir commanded his servants to bring him the weight of an elephant in fragrant roses and spread the petals over the lake. Once the roses had been cast upon the waters, the Emperor would row a boat with the princess, demonstrating his devotion to her.

Every day when the powerful Emperor asked what would please the Princess that day, her request was the same.

After several days, Princess Nur Mahal noticed an oily film on top of the water. Dipping her finger into the lake, the Princess found that the oil had the highly concentrated fragrance of the roses. She commanded her servants to soak up the oil with cotton wool and wring it out into bottles for storage. Legend has it that this was the first attar of roses.

In short succession, the Emperor’s other five wives each died mysteriously and the Princess became the Empress, the only wife to the Great Moughal. She came to be known by her new name, Nur Jahan, and was the most powerful queen of the Moughal dynasty because of her sharp management skills and her great beauty. Nur Jahan was the first Queen in Indian history to have her name used on money, even though her religion prohibited women from showing their faces or displaying their names publicly.

Soon after becoming Empress, Nur Jahan arranged for her niece, Mumatz Mahal, to be married to the Moughal’s son, Shaw Jehan, who would later become the heir to the Moughal’s empire. The Empress passed along her knowledge for making attar of rose to Mumatz Mahal, who reportedly always wore the rose oil.