In Kashmir’s old city of Srinagar, Abdul Aziz Kozgar, 67, runs a rose water distillery which celebrated its 200th anniversary in 2020. 🌹
The rose water is made exclusively from Koshur Gulab , because, as Baron Charles von Hügel, an Austrian diplomat and botanist, who travelled to Kashmir during the 1830s, said: “The colour of Kashmir roses is much more beautiful and their fragrance is much more pleasant than the roses produced anywhere else in the whole world. Out of these roses, the best rose water in the world is produced.”
“However, nowadays people prefer English medicines over traditional Persian-Arabic treatments. That is why we [stopped making them]. But the rose water trade is still alive. People still want it from us, probably because in Kashmir we are the last ones producing it.”Natural rose water is said to have antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties.
“After some time, the vapours evaporate through the vessel of the cauldron to another cauldron, where it is stored. In order to make one litre of pure rose water, it requires 4-5kg of rose petals. It is undoubtedly a very time-consuming and laborious process. That’s why very few people do this.” Rasool has been spraying rose water on mourners gathered in imambargahs during the Islamic month of Muharram. “It came from Iran and had a very important presence in Islam,” he says. “In old times, they used to bathe the Grand Mosque of Mecca with rose water. In Kashmir, the Kozgars used to make it the perfect way – but now their shop is on a deathbed.”
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