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Sandalwood is the name of different fragrant woods. These woods are yielded by trees in the genus Santalum, which are often used for the essential oil it contains. The wood is heavy and yellow in color as well as fine-grained, and unlike many other aromatic woods it retains its fragrance for decades. Sandalwood has been valued and treasured for many years for its fragrance, carving, medical and religious qualities.
Production
Producing commercially valuable Sandalwood Attar with high levels of fragrance oils, requires Santalum trees to be around eight years of age as a minimum, but a preference of fourteen years and above is present. Australia is now the largest producer of Santalum album with a majority being grown around Kununurra, Western Australia.
Unlike most trees, sandalwood is harvested by toppling the entire tree instead of sawing them down at the trunk. This way, valuable wood from the stump and root can also be sold or processed for oil.
Usage
Fragrance
Sandalwood essential oil provides perfumes with a striking wood base note. Sandalwood smells not unlike other wood scents, except it has a bright and fresh edge with few natural analogues. When used in smaller proportions in a perfume, it is an excellent fixative to enhance the head space of other fragrances.
The oil from sandalwood is widely used in the cosmetic industry and is expensive. The true sandalwood is a protected species, and its demand cannot be met. Many species of plants are traded under the name of "sandalwood". Within the genus Santalum alone, there are more than 19 species that can be called sandalwood. Traders will often accept oil from closely related species such as various species in the genus Santalum as well as that of West Indian Sandalwood (Amyris balsamifera) in the family Rutaceae.
Religious use
Hinduism
Sandalwood paste is integral to rituals and ceremonies, to mark religious utensils and to decorate the icons of the deities. It is also distributed thereafter to devotees, who apply it to the forehead or the neck and chest. Preparation of the paste is considered a duty fit only for the pure, and is therefore entrusted in temples and during ceremonies only to priests.
The paste is prepared by grinding pieces of the wood by hand upon granite slabs shaped for the purpose. With slow addition of water a thick paste results, which is mixed with saffron or other such pigments to make Chandan. Sandalwood is considered in alternative medicine to bring one closer to the divine. Sandalwood essential oil, which is very expensive in its pure form, is used primarily for Ayurvedic purposes and treating anxiety.
Buddhism
Sandalwood is considered to be of the padma (lotus) group and attributed to Amitabha Buddha. Sandalwood scent is believed to transform one's desires and maintain a person's alertness while in meditation. Sandalwood is also one of the more popular scents used for incense used when offering incense to the Buddha.
Chinese and Japanese Religions
Sandalwood, along with agarwood, is the most popular and commonly used incense material by the Chinese and Japanese in worship and various ceremonies. It is also used extensively in Indian incense, religiously or otherwise.
It is said to have been used for embalming the corpses of princes in Sri Lanka since the 9th century.
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