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DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE ‘AGARBATHI’?
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DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE ‘AGARBATHI’?

Uncategorized November 7, 2025 , by

IT sounded like a rather interesting press conference! The Cycle Pure Agarbathi people were here in Goa to tell us they have a remarkable 77-year story to talk about and now that I’ve heard it, I guess I agree. I’m not desperately seeking god or spirituality but I like my evening diya to be accompanied by a few agarbatti burning, also a bit of camphor to scent up a prayer!
Don’t laugh. I’ve been hooked on incense sticks from the time as a schoolgirl in Penang, my old hometown in Malaysia, I would go to the local “goddess of mercy” Kwan Yin temple …here I would pray with a bunch of incense sticks burning in hand before the gorgeous image of the goddess for nameless favors (answered or unanswered). Rich Chinese businessmen would donate these real fat tall joss sticks which burned around the clock in the courtyard, with my friends I would take away some of the hillocks of ash which were left behind for various uses funny and not so funny (adding water to the ash and scrubbing one’s skin in a fine bath, in hopes of looking like the goddess Kwan Yin may be).
SO I was reminded of all this at the Cycle Pure Agarbathi PC which is expanding in Goa and also celebrating 77 years of a “fragrance, legacy and purpose.” Ask around and most users of Cycle Pure Agarbathi will tell you they’re hooked on them for they’re superlative, both in natural oil fragrances, and they burn long and steadily, not fade out half-way and refuse to burn as in the case of poor quality incense sticks in the unbranded market. The market for puja item numbers is huge and given some kind of revival in religious fervor nowadays, I dare say this business is getting a mega boost, in Hindu puja rites and rituals we prefer to burn oil lamps and incense sticks…
Over the years I’ve favored the Mysore sandal wood agarbatti above all, but now and again a lavender, mogra or jasmine agarbatti bewitches the senses. I’ve always loved the incense sticks coming from the Auroville Ashram shops in Pondicherry, made by foreign settlers of old here – the incense sticks they make are superlatively soothing. Don’t forget a lot of folk like to light up real essential oil incense sticks and long burning scented candles, to inspire a tranquil mood at home in the evenings…most meditative states are achieved which a evocative incense stick or candle burning gently nearby.
BUT to stay with aforesaid PC, the genial Chief Sales & Marketing Officer Amarnath Datta of Cycle Pure Agarbathi, had a charming story to tell about how their agarbathi brand was born. It all began with the quiet humility of the Mysuru-based NRRS pioneer N Ranga Rao in 1948, when he made the first incense sticks in a home-based business venture, which went on to become today’s largest selling brand in agarbathi in India and indeed, worldwide. Marketing was a trial so their patriarch N Ranga Rao just visited stores and put up his burning incense sticks outside at the entrance, after due permission was granted – yes, free. For some time he gave away the agarbathi, soon folk walking in and out were asking about the fragrance in the air.
There was no looking back. The perfumed oils came from France and Europe and the company progressed in leaps and bounds to be today’s conglomerate with an established presence in India and abroad. Needless to say the pioneering start-up of Cycle agarbathi has diversified to other categories of business like air care products (Lia brand of room fresheners and car fresheners), wellness home fragrance products (IRIS) under Ripple Fragrances, floral extracts (NESSO) and Rangsons Technologies. From agarbathi to aerospace is a long, long way to come for the conglomerate of companies, which is also makes parts for defense helicopters if you please.
Founder N Ranga Rao is a true visionary and philanthropist and his children continue to walk in his footsteps through its charity arm of NR Foundation. Now, why haven’t heard this story before! What are incense sticks made off, I asked Amarnath Datta and he said smilingly, bamboo and eco-friendly material base infused with the desired perfume oil….no, they do not do any plastics in their packaging, not even plastic lamination. Everything they use qualifies for zero carbon emissions and plastic free practices. I must confess it’s refreshing to hear this (our civilization is destroying mother earth with its vile mountains of use and throw plastics across the globe).
Also, why the cycle image? Well, who doesn’t recognize the cycle as desirable and so useful in the early days of any business in our world? Most businesses in the old days were marketed cycles! So smoke on that. A cycle is both a functional as well as an emotional image for the founder of NRRS.
The engaging Dr Danish Shaikh filled me up some more afterwards. Keen to make a splash in Goa they were at the recently over Purple Fest, where they celebrated the lighting up of a 125-feet tall agarbathi – a longest and most inclusive achievement; it was set to light with the help of none other than Chief Minister of Goa Dr Pramod Sawant, Minister of Social Welfare Subhash Phaldesai and other dignitaries. The mega agarbathi blending tradition, innovation and sensory features was much appreciated by everyone as it burnt, its scent wafting out in the air like a wee bit of magic ….it was signature Cycle Pure Agarbathi and the incense sticks are bound to do good in Goa, for Goa has a history of timeless piety in its temples, wasn’t it the old Kashi of the Konkan coast? Something like that, just about everyone is keen to look towards a blessed future!
LIKE I said, it was an interesting press conference offering much food for thought and on that note it’s avjo, selamat datang, poiteverem, au revoir, arrivedecci, hasta la vista and vachun yeta here for now.
— Tara Narayan

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