Dariba Kalan attar shop Gulab Singh Johri Mal expands online

At 320 Dariba Kalan Road in Chandni Chowk, customers can unstopper bottles of rose, jasmine, sandalwood and oudh before choosing a scent. The family behind Gulab Singh Johri Mal says the perfumery was founded in 1816 by Lala Gulab Singh and his son, Lala Johri Mal, and has operated from the Old Delhi address for 210 years.

The family’s seventh and eighth generations now run the business. Mukul Gundhi works with his brothers and says he grew up visiting the shop after school while their father, Lala Ram Singh, served customers. He joined the business full-time after Class 12.

From copper vessel to glass bottle

The family says it continues to make attar through Deg-Bhapka hydro-distillation. Flowers and water are heated over a wood fire in a copper vessel called a deg. Fragrant steam travels through a bamboo pipe and condenses into sandalwood oil in a smaller bhapka vessel, where the distiller judges the finished attar by smell.

The range includes 600 to 700 varieties, according to the family, including natural aromatic extracts known as ruh, botanical attars matured over sandalwood oil, incense sticks, dhoop, oils, mists, bakhoors and room fresheners. The business also has a factory and a rose plantation in Siktara village in Agra district.

A wider fragrance shelf

The collection has added lighter scents as customer preferences change, while oudh remains in demand. The family says a request for a barbershop-style fragrance led it to develop one within a week.

Handcrafted wooden shelves and Belgian-cut glass bottles remain in the shop. The newer generation is building an e-commerce catalogue, including curated discovery sets, while customers at the Dariba Kalan shop can still test fragrances in person.