Agarwood: A Fragrant Link between India and Southeast Asia

Abstract

In this era of globalisation, India is constantly striving to make better relations with its neighbours. In this direction, India launched the ‘Look East Policy’ in the year 1991 to redefine its social, economic and strategic relations with its immediate neighbours Southeast Asian countries. In the changing environment and encouraged by the success of the policy, in the year 2014, Act East Policy announced. Through these policies, India’s main goal was to promote its strategic and trade relations with Southeast Asian countries. The history of trade relations between India and Southeast Asian countries goes back to thousands of years. Traders used to sell many valuable goods from Southeast Asian countries to the Arab and Western world through India. Among these valuable items, there is mention of silk as well as aromatic substances. Agarwood occupies a very important place among these aromatic substances. Agarwood is a very precious resinous aromatic wood. It is obtained from trees of Aquilaria malaccensis and other Indomalesian Aquilaria species. In China, India, Japan and the Middle East, it is used in many cultural, religious and traditional ceremonies. The properties of Agarwood and its applications have been mentioned in many Sanskrit texts. Dioscorides described many medicinal uses of Agarwood in 65 BC. Arthashastra, written in the 2nd century BC, mentions it as a wood used in medicine and cosmetics. Sahih Muslim also mentioned it as medicine in the 8th century. Several historical texts describe the trade of Agarwood from Southeast Asia to India, China, Japan and the Middle East. Thus, looking at the trade and use of Agarwood, we see that its history offers a new glimpse of the relations between India and Southeast Asian countries. At present, Agarwood products (chips, beads, powders, perfumes) and oil are in high demand in the international market. The price of Agarwood oil can range from $10,000 to $40,000 per kg, depending on its quality, origin and distillation process. Innovative research in the medical field is also the reason for the increase in its international demand. Even though Agarwood is mainly obtained from Southeast Asian countries, its oil distillation is mostly done in ‘Hojai’ district of Assam province of India. Simultaneously, India is playing an important role in re-exporting many Agarwood products and reaching the largest consumers of Agarwood in Southeast Asian countries. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to know the cultural, traditional, religious and economic effects of Agarwood on the relations between Indian and Southeast Asian countries.