国家地理:香氛熏陶的历史(3)（在线收听）

In the narrow lanes of Bara Bazaar, the city's main market,

在卡瑙杰的主要市场巴拉市集的狭窄巷弄中，

shops are crammed with glass bottles holding attar and ruh, or essential oil, each smelling better than the last.

商店里塞满了装着阿塔尔以及称为“如”的香精油的玻璃瓶，一瓶比一瓶好闻。

Men sit cross-legged on cushioned floor mats, sniffing vials and dabbing extraordinarily long perfumed cotton swabs behind their ears.

男士盘腿坐在蓬软的地垫上嗅闻小瓶子，并用沾了精油的超长棉花棒轻触耳后。

Presiding over this age-old commerce is the attar sazh, or perfumer, conjuring and enticing with the aura of an imperial alchemist.

主掌这个古老商业活动的是“阿塔尔萨兹”，也就是调香师，他们像皇家炼金术师般，运用香氛进行诱人魔法。

"The world's best perfumers have walked through these narrow lanes, making their way through mud and cow dung to get their hands on Kannauj attar.

“世界一流的调香师都曾走过这些狭窄巷弄，穿越烂泥和牛粪，以取得卡瑙杰的阿塔尔。

There is really nothing like it," says Pranjal Kapoor, the fifth-generation partner at M.L. Ramnarain Perfumers, one of the traditional distillers still operating here.

真的没有什么比得上它。”仍在此处营运的传统蒸馏厂之一M.L.拉姆纳瑞恩香水制造公司的第五代合伙人浦兰久·卡浦尔说。

Tegh Singh arrives and unloads his bundles of blossoms in Kapoor's godown, an open-air stone courtyard that serves as the distillery.

特格·辛格抵达卡浦尔的仓库并卸下花朵，仓库是个露天庭院，用来当作蒸馏厂。

Ram Singh, Kapoor's master attar craftsman, scoops the petals into a bulbous copper still and tops it with water.

卡浦尔的阿塔尔专业师傅拉姆·辛格把花瓣舀进铜制的蒸馏器，然后加水盖过。

Before fastening the lid, Ram Singh packs the rims with a clay-and-cotton mash, which hardens and creates a formidable seal.

扣上盖子前，拉姆·辛格用黏土与棉花混合成的糊状物包覆容器边缘，它会变硬并且紧紧封住。

When the flowery concoction begins to simmer, steam travels from the still, via a bamboo reed,

在花瓣混合物开始熬煮后，饱含玫瑰香气的水蒸气会从蒸馏器经由竹管

into a copper pot holding sandalwood oil, which readily imbibes the rose-saturated vapor.

流向装有檀香油的铜锅，让檀香油迅速吸收。