Pryn Parfum x Rajesh Balkrishnan Aranyaka (Prin Lomros, 2018)
★ ★ ★ ★ — excellent
I had been sampling a lot of perfumes, as per usual, but none that stirred any strong emotion in me, until I got hold of a bottle of Aranyaka recently.
The Aranyakas constitute the philosophy behind ritual sacrifice of the ancient Hindu sacred texts, the Vedas. The word Aranyaka derives from the Sansksrit Āraṇya meaning forest or wilderness, and Āraṇyaka translates to “of the forest” or “of the wilderness.”
Aranyaka is the outcome of a creative collaboration between Prin Lomros of Pryn Parfum and Rajesh Balkrishnan. Prin also has other collections including Prin, Prissana and Strangers Parfumerie, and I’m never quite sure what constitute the bounds of each brand or collection. Anyone with a strong interest in perfumery has probably come across Rajesh Balkrishnan, rbalkris on Fragrantica, a University professor who has managed to garner a kind of cult following amongst fragrance enthusiasts as one of our most discerning noses – you’re not going to read regurgitated plaudits of Layton Exclusif, Dior Pour Homme or Creed Aventus come out of this man, but instead you’re more likely to hear high praise for Stéphane Humbert Lucas’ O’Hira, Serge Lutens’ Muscs Koublai Khan or Di Ser’s Kyara, which he considers “the most beautiful perfume in the world today”. All this to say, there’s very good reason to pay attention to Rajesh: while he has his own preferences – bold, dense, complex perfumes – I find his taste to be quite eclectic. My own personal preferences don’t always align with Rajesh’s, but there’s few people I’d trust more than Rajesh to make the decision to sample a perfume or pay attention to a house.
The beautiful dark green juice of Aranyaka
Notes
The official notes for Aranyaka include —
Goat hair, Cypriol, Cypress Absolute, Leather, Frankincense, Soil Accord, Castoreum, Civet, Oakmoss, Nutmeg, Saffron, Cloves, Lavender, Beeswax
— a rather succinct list for a a perfume authored by Prin.
Aranyaka opens with a green, oily blast of cypress oil, with leathery undertones from the cypriol and castoreum. Lurking in the background is a distinctive soil accord that comes across as pleasantly dank. I get an unmistakable, but faint animalic current from the goat hair tincture.
Aranyaka is a fairly monolithic scent on my skin, although at the late stage drydown, the animalics recede further into the background, while dusty frankincense, along with a more pronounced dankness from the soil accord come into the fore. The lightly-spiced, honeyed base of incense and oakmoss with hints of lavender peaking through make Aranyaka comes across as a genre-defining, animalic forest fougère.
Aranyaka evokes the imagery of the context within which the ritual sacrifices were made in the Vedic period: lush Indian forests, brimming with diverse flora and, of course, animals, mingling with whiffs of the scents from the rituals themselves. It’s pretty thoughtful that the perfumers chose cyperus scariosus (cypriol, or nagarmotha), an invasive species that’s native to central India, alongside frankincense (olibanum) to evoke scents of the rituals. It’s hard to say what such an ancient forest might actually have smelled like, but Aranyaka does a convincing job of evoking an imagery that seems very plausible.
When the experience of art aligns with the purported vision of said art – perhaps a requisite condition for anything worthy of being designated “art” at all – it’s already high praise, even if only the creators know it, but when that vision finds broader recognition, it’s bound to feel like an artistic triumph. But in my opinion, even without the context behind the inspiration of Aranyaka, it is a distinct perfume that will pique the interest of anyone with a curious nose.
Despite being a bold, heavy scent at 35% perfume concentration, Aranyaka actually wears lighter than I would have expected on my skin.
Aranyaka is a distinct perfume that stands out, par for the course for these eclectic perfumers, with brilliant technical execution, and it’s unlikely to be a perfume for everyone, but I suspect those chasing fragrant gems will cherish this: an olfactive beauty of the highest order that provokes meditation.
Aranyaka, Aran and Aksum
Prin Aran, Pryn Aksum and Aranyaka all share overlapping evocations. I have never smelled Aran, so I don’t have much to say about it, but Aksum and Aranyaka undoubtedly have similarities. In some sense, Aranyaka is a more refined, lighter (“lighter”), slightly more resinous, ever so lightly sweeter iteration of Aksum, and I don’t mean this as a disparagement of Aksum – I mean it quite literally: Aksum is incredibly beautiful, more animalic and drier than Aranyaka, it feels more raw, denser, and wears much heavier.
Remember that these are both, generally speaking, dry, animalic, dense, complex and lush scents, and my comparisons amongst them are relative.
It’s worth mentioning that Aksum will run you a hefty $520 for 50ml.
When to wear
Without any doubt in my mind, Aranyaka is better suited for cooler days. I personally prefer to wear it specifically on cooler nights, but it works well on cool, overcast days as well.
It would be unfair for me to characterize our shared desires to wear perfumes as an act of spiritual communion with oneself: some part of us wears perfumes for others, and if not for others, we take others into consideration. What surprises (and saddens) me is the degree to which, it would appear, that people care about how others might perceive their perfume (or, gulp, them!) and whether or not it has the potential to attract a mate, or, complements. Wear Aranyaka for you.
Projection, Sillage and Longevity
On my skin Aranyaka has moderate projection, moderate sillage and tremendous longevity: 8+ hours.
Where to buy
Unfortunately you cannot buy Aranyaka in retail markets, nor is it actively produced. Just pay attention to when Rajesh next decides to order a batch! I bought a 30ml bottle, which comes at a 35% concentration, directly from him for $150.
