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Attar is the essential oil that is produced when aromatics like jasmine and sandalwood are pressed and distilled. It has been a feature of life in India, as well as many other parts of the world, for over 5,000 years, and it has been the defining industry of the Indian city of Kannauj for over a thousand. But whereas once this ancient discipline employed nearly all the city鈥檚 residents, it鈥檚 now suffering severely from the impact of climate change and the rise of synthetic perfumes.

Journalist Jigyasa Mishra meets the farmers, flower pickers and traditional perfumers of Kannauj to better understand the way of life attar sustains and to ask: can anything be done to reverse the trend?

Producers: Jigyasa Mishra and Artemis Irvine

A Whistledown Production for 成人论坛 World Service