Sandalwood is an Indian plant that has an extraordinary fragrance.
Sacred rituals are accompanied by offerings composed of the five
elements: Earth is represented with sandalwood paste. The paste is
smeared on the foreheads of devotees of Vishnu and Shiva as a tilak or
dot. The sandalwood dot is meant to cool and protect the "Agna
chakra" present between the eyebrows. The fragrance of
sandalwood is also said to be an aphrodisiac. Sandalwood is commonly used for incense, religious ceremonies, aromatherapy, fragrance industry and fine woodworking. Sandalwood is a not an ideal building material. However, a few temples in India have been constructed by sandalwood and have retained the smell of chandan after centuries. It is also used for making jewelry boxes, fans and ornate carvings.
In India, for centuries, the death pyre is made using sandalwood branches. In Sri Lanka, since 9th century, the sandalwood paste was used to embalm the corpses of royal family. Sandalwood, alongwith agarwood, is the most popular and commonly used incense material by the Chinese and Japanese in worship and various ceremonies.
Myths and Legends
Legend say that Lord Ganesha was created by Goddess Parvati - wife of Lord Shiva. Goddess Parvati created Ganesha out of sandalwood paste that she used for her bath and breathed life into the figure.
In Indian mythology, sandalwood tree is depicted as being entwined with serpents. Sandalwood remains aromatic and cool even when the poisonous serpent coils around it. This portrays that the basic nature of an individual cannot change because of outer effects.