Why do we light an Agarbatti or Incense?

Incense, Fragrance & Humankind

Agni or Fire has been associated with purification in Hindu culture from pre-vedic times. Agni Pariksha is a known term to any Hindu irrespective of one’s knowledge of mythology. To limit the knowledge of Fire to India and Hinduism will be limiting our understanding of the history of Humankind.

Fumigation as an essential ritual to keep away wild animals & insects, to preserve meat, to dispel bad odour is ancient knowledge. Burning Agarbattis, Dhoop, or an “Aarati” is a remnant of that collective knowledge.

Reference to Incense or Fragrances burning (not in particular reference to the shape that we know of it now) has been made in Hindu, Catholic, Islamic, Jewish, Buddhist scriptures. Fragrant smoke has been part of humankind’s spiritual & religious rituals – be it the burning of Sage leaves by native Americans, or benzoin resin on embers by the ancient Indians, or Olive leaves by the Mediterranean dwellers – the smoke has been there always (with the fire, of course).
We would be using the terms Fragrance & Incense interchangeably in this piece of writing since one is the reason for the other to exist.
Fragrance is a stimulant. It acts on the Olfactory senses – one of the five senses that can alter anybody’s being. It triggers specific responses.
Scents/Fragrances help create specific results – it is Therapeutic, healing and cleansifying.
It can be safely concluded that Fragrances were/are used to Relax & De-stress, Meditate or Focus, Dispel Negative Energy or Foulness in air, Disinfect & repel, heighten sexual desires. And one or a combination of these reasons are why Incenses are used the way and in the places that they are used now.
Since Vedic times, the ritual of Homa (Homam, Yagna, Havan) is practiced by Hindus, and carried on to Buddhism (in India, Tibet, China and Japan too). It is a votive ritual where a few daily use items like grains, seeds, ghee, are symbolically sacrificed in the all-consuming fire lit by all-natural cow-dung cakes and/or fragrant wood. The smoke generated by this fire is supposed to cleanse and disinfect the air around and is a natural fumigation technique followed by our ancestors (I am sticking to the Smoke/Fire angle alone to ensure brevity and appropriateness of the content).
Burning an incense stick today is a modern devotee’s way of re-creating the goodness of a Homam in one’s surroundings.
If earlier the incenses were made of entirely natural material like leaves/herbs, barks/wood, natural resin, with commercialisation and profit-making taking center stage it has been reduced to a synthetic stick, mostly if not in entirety. Breathing of such synthetic incense smoke is a major cause of nasal irritations, and thoracic & lung infections.

Let’s go into the ingredients in subsequent parts….Incense abhi baaki hai!