It was a
cool autumn night. The moon had painted a landscape of ethereal charm and the crickets
were busy singing their merry song. The house of my maternal aunt, which stood
on a small hillock in north Kerala, was bathed in moonlight and the mystique
and charm of the ancient. Almost a century old, it was a two-storied house. The
wooden stairs in the central corridor creaked, while they led me to the attic. My
destination was the library in the attic, a delight to my bibliophilic heart. In
addition, it overlooked the garden. I
had come to attend the marriage of my cousin, which was two days from then. I
had chosen the library, which had a single bed to spend the night.
The light
breeze was laden with the rich, sweet and intoxicating fragrance of the Parijata,
the Queen of the night. It was a fragrance, which talked of longing, of love
and heavenly tales. The Parijata tree that stood at the farthest corner of the
garden was heavily laden with blooms.
That morning, an old neighborhood woman had
told me the tale of the Parijata tree while I was arranging the fallen yet
beautiful snow-white flowers with the coral core, in a glass bowl. The story had
touched the romantic in me.
Once a
princess named Pārijāta fell in love with the sun. Sun being the wanderer did
not return her love and soon deserted her.
Depressed, she committed suicide and a tree sprung from the ashes, the
tree of Parijata. To avoid seeing the sun, the lover who had rejected her, the
tree bloomed only at night and shed the blooms at sunrise.
Intrigued by
the tale, I researched more about the flower on my phone internet. There were
many links to extol the virtues of the Parijata.

According to the Charak Samhita, the earliest known text on Ayurveda,
sweet smells maintain youthfulness and vigor, and give a long life. They
are rejuvenating, and increase sensual enjoyment. Therefore, people used these flowers in
incenses and as flower offerings to gods and goddesses.
·
The flower is the
official flower of the Indian state of West Bengal and Kanchanaburi Province,
Thailand.

It is also called
as the Tree of Sorrow, the Queen of the Night, the Coral Jasmine, the Prajakta
in Sanskrit and Pavizha Malli in Malayalam.
The leaves, Bark,
Stem, Flowers, Seeds and flower oils had various medicinal properties and were
used extensively in Ayurveda and Homoeopathy.
The Parijata
Attar, if applied on wrist pulse points, heart chakra, ear lobes or twirl
through the hair awaken bliss.
When I went to bed that day, my dreams were
clouded with visuals of a sad princess who was shedding copious tears. Her
tears when they touched the earth became the Parijata flowers.
Early next morning, I walked through a carpet
of the fallen Parijata flowers with a heart overwhelmed with sadness. I empathized
with her, her sadness, and her urge to shrink away from her lover, the sun.
The fragrance that lingered on my hands spoke
of her unrequited love, the tears the tree shed on the caress from the first
rays of the sun. A love, which was destined to be eternal, a
fragrance destined to comfort during the dark hours of the night, to dance in
the arms of the night breeze.
This post is written as part of a contest organised by Godrej aer and Indiblogger.
#InspireAFragrance
Can you inspire us with your evocative travel experience to help us create the first crowd-inspired fragrances for Godrej aer?