A calming, earthy scent greets me as soon as I land at Muscat International airport. The mystical fragrance continues to haunt me in the car to Shangri-La Hotel in the Barr Al Jissah area. It’s here in the grand lobby of the hotel that I come face to face with the scent—curling up from a latticed metal diffuser, close to the Omani coffee pot. Frankincense or luban (the Arabic name), is the quintessential scent of Oman. Whether you’re in a souk, masjid, mud-brick fort, a modern shopping mall or a traditional Omani home, the distinctive aroma of burning frankincense is never far away.
The birth of Frankincense
Frankincense (from the French ‘franc encens’, meaning ‘pure incense’) is an aromatic resin obtained by making small incisions on the bark of the Boswellia tree. The sap that oozes from the cut gets collected in tearshaped droplets. The aromatic resin then hardens and becomes little crystals of frankincense which is then hand cleaned and graded into various classifications. Though Boswellia trees grow in Arabia, Yemen, Africa and even some parts of India, they really thrive in the deserts of Oman. The highest quality frankincense is collected from a rare species that proliferates in isolated wadis in Oman’s southern most province of Dhofar.
Frankincense from Boswellia sacra tree here is considered the best Frankincense also has a storied biblical connection. It was brought as a gift by one of the three wise men, along with gold and myrrh, to honour the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem. Many believe that these gifts brought to baby Jesus may well have been the origins of the gift giving custom at Christmas.
During excavation of the UNESCO heritage site of Khor Rori a fortified port city in Muscat, incense burners were found with frankincense still on them.
Denne historien er fra January 01, 2024-utgaven av India Today.
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Denne historien er fra January 01, 2024-utgaven av India Today.
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He gave the beat to the world
He would pick up the rhythms of each experience of mobility and weave them into his taals. Thus it was that he reflected joy and laughter in rhythmic cycles...such was the magic of Zakir's fingersText and photographs by Raghu Rai
KERALA TOURISM CAMPAIGN, 1989 - TICKETS TO PARADISE
All it took was a catchy tagline-'God's Own Country'-for the world to discover Kerala's wealth of natural beauty. It remains among the best tourism ad campaigns, earning the state a place among top 10 international destinations
SPIRITUALITY - THE GURUS OF COOL
Among the cult Indian gurus, no one had a bigger hold on western minds than 'Osho' Rajneesh. He's also perhaps the role model for the enterprise-building gurus of today
RETAIL SHOPPING - THE MALL MANIA
Shopping malls, a 1990s innovation in India, changed the way the Indian middle class shops. Their success now lies in being 'shoppertainment' destinations, offering something for everyone
CULINARY RENAISSANCE, 1978 - TANDOORI NIGHTS
ITC's Bukhara and Dum Pukht turned the world to tandoori cuisine and had an enormous impact on the F&B industry. Decades on, they are still a pit-stop for celebrities and heads of state visiting Delhi
INDIAN WRITING IN ENGLISH - REVENGE OF THE NATIVE
Rushdie lit the way but Indian writing in English has taken a life of its own in the past few decades, with translated Indian fiction most recently having its moment in the sun
INDIAN ART - A BRUSH WITH GOLD DUST
The 1990s economic liberalisation came as oxygen, lighting up the Indian art scene. Today, artworks by established masters routinely go for astronomical amounts
FESTIVAL OF INDIA, 1982 - CULTURE CAPITAL
The Festival of India grew into a symbol of our 'soft power', introducing our art and aesthetics to a global audience while also helping rebrand our domestic products
THE INDIPOP TREND - DISCO GOES DESI
For ages, the film song ruled. Nothing else was audible. Then came Nazia, charioteered by Biddu, and Indian ears went into a pleasant madness. Literally, Disco Deewane. A whole genre was born
SHOLAY 1975 - THE BIRTH OF THE FANDEMIC
India had seen hits before. But Sholay seared into its collective psyche like a badland bullet. The effect was on a scale never seen before- one film creating a new mass folk culture. And a trail of monster blockbusters that still continues
