Word: sandalwood
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Death here is not morbid?it's a vibrant business. This is where the sacred and the commercial comfortably converge. The city of 2 million hosts more than 50,000 funerals a year, and shopkeepers are more likely to sell sandalwood logs, incense and tinsel garlands?the paraphernalia of death?than savory samosas. It takes about three hours to burn a body, and the cost can be prohibitive, usually starting at $200 for a modest affair. Whole streets are dedicated to the selling of shrouds and the influx of tourists has spawned a new school of opportunists. Papu, a self...
...Middle East, Arab trade was dominated by incense, fragrant resins and perfume woods?and Oman, as the center of this trade, prospered. It may seem something of a contradiction that Omanis, given their conservative customs, would indulge in the extravagant and heady scents of rose oil, musk, sandalwood, myrrh and frankincense. But a trip to the souk, or traditional market, in Muttrah quickly reveals this penchant for perfume is not just an aesthetic pleasure?it's big business with a long history. Omanis have been extracting frankincense from the Boswellia carterii tree since the 6th century B.C., and have been...
...dizzying array of fragrant powders, wood chips, oils and waters can be found among the meandering alleyways of the souk. Burlap sacks of sandalwood, red saffron, rose petals and golden nuggets of bakhur, or incense, pack miniscule shops, some barely large enough to hold their proprietors. Rows of unlabeled glass bottles, filled with fragrant oils, are the basis for Omani perfumes. In the shops, Omani women, clad from head to toe in black, extend hennaed hands to select and combine their favorite scents. An Omani woman may be quiet and modest when she walks past, but her signature aroma...
...Resort reigns over the Myingyan Plain, offering a stunning view of the gilded spires and pale green walls of the fairy-tale Popa Daung Kalat Temple complex below. A curious joint venture between the forestry department and a Singaporean lumber and construction firm, the eco-refuge nestles among the sandalwood saplings of a newly established forest conservation project...
...using it. He started his illicit career by killing elephants, bribing forestry and police officials to get past checkpoints protecting the dwindling herds in forest reserves, and selling the ivory for lucrative sums to traders. Utilizing the same techniques and connections, he recruited villagers to illegally fell sandalwood trees, which he then smuggled to northern Indian factories that produce oil for perfumeries abroad. Veerappan has repeatedly reduced to abject helplessness the authorities of three different state governments in southern India that have tried to stop...