What's a nard, and what does it smell like?

What a google search revealed a nard to be

Starting on Valentine’s Day, we started reading The Aroma of Righteousness by Deborah Green, explores the imagery of fragrance in rabbinic literature. Two months later, we had Dr. Rachel Herz from Brown give a lecture on her work unraveling the neural processes of olfaction and gustation. The readings and lecture gave the class a well-rounded understanding at how scent is employed in ritual for invoking emotion.

As mentioned earlier, our sense of smell is the most memorable due to its proximity to the pre-frontal cortex. Although research behind this phenomenon is relatively recent, practitioners of religion understand the influence of associating scents with divine concepts. In her introduction, Green mentions how we lack a vocabulary to describe our sense of smell, and refer to such using simile, metaphor or simply naming the scent. The explanation for such is that the olfactory bulb is located so “far down” that the circuitry connecting it to language or cognition is not as strong as it is for other senses. (Green, 7) Our perception of smell is in close proximity to the hippocampus, where memory is stored, that our ability to recognize and remember a scent happens almost instantaneously. Our class discussed that combining the influence smell has for our memories and that it is invisible to our eyes can give fragrance a divine property.

The passage we discussed most during this unit was The Song of Songs, one of the last writings found in the Hebrew Bible. Songs celebrates sexual love, and can be read as an allegory describing God’s relationship to Israel, in which Professor describes it as the “holiness of love.” Songs, as well as midrash written in the Talmud, make up the bulk of Green’s research in her book due to its number of religious scented metaphors. One of the most controversial lines we discussed in class describes an example of how erotic associations can be formed with scent. “While the king was on his couch, My nard gave forth its fragrance.” (Songs 1:12) To Green, this verse is particularly raunchy, stating “We are inclined to read the woman’s “nard” as her body…she is referring to her own vagina as the nard and her secretions of arousal as the fragrant oil.” (Green, 86) Although I agree with Green’s interpretation that Songs is sexually provocative in this verse, I also identify with the skeptical approach Professor took, in which he says, “sometimes a nard is just a nard.”

Regardless of which interpretation is agreed upon, the contextual significance of the line is much greater than whatever the nard refers to. The metaphor in this single line has numerous applications in midrash. One particular interpretation assigns God as the role of the male lover and Israel as the female lover. Two rabbis, R. Meir and R. Judah,  debate the nature of the nard scent, with R. Judah believing it to be positive and R. Meir believing it to be negative. “R. Meir says, “While the king, the king of kings, the Holy One blessed be He, was in his enclosure, in the firmament, Israel gave forth an evil scent.” (Green, 130) The scripture that R. Meir relates this verse to is Exodus 32:4, when the Israelites, upon waiting for Moses to descend down Mount Sinai, worshipped an icon. The blasphemy of the act elicited an “evil scent.” R. Judah argues the opposite, stating “While the king of kings…was in his enclosure in the firmament, Israel gave forth a good fragrance before Mount Sinai. And they said, All that you have spoken God, we will do and obey (Exod 24:7)” (Green, 130) R. Judah is relating the passage in Exodus of the loyalty the Israelites have to God upon escaping Egypt as “good fragrance.”

Reading the midrash of how these two rabbis debated how the smell of a nard is perceived made me think of one thing: what does a nard smell like? What even is a nard? Upon doing some research, I learned that spikenard (Nardostachys jatamansi) grows in the Himalayas, and was an expensive spice traded along the Silk Road. It is related to valerian and is “critically endangered.” (IUCN, 2001) Furthermore, the Bible makes several more references to it besides Songs. It is the oil that Mary, sister of Lazurus, uses to anoint Jesus’ feet in John 12:1–10. 

5ml: $66 retail

One description of Spikenard essential oil is “Woody, spicy, musty;” that it is both an “uplifting” and “grounding” aroma that “promotes feelings of calmness and relaxation.” (doterra.org) Another supplier of spikenard essential oil, which references its biblical significance, describes the scent as a “gorgeous woody and musky aroma has been used for ages to inspire true tranquility.” (edensgarden.com) These descriptions have been written by the companies to advertise essential oils. The more authentic description of spikenard fragrance has to come from internet forums, where people share their authentic opinions. The title of one thread is Spikenard smells like... Feet? Various people comment on what their spikenard essential oil smells like, and the variety of answers is as amusing as it is informative. 

Context plays an enormous role in perceiving scent. One of the largest takeaways from Dr. Herz' lecture is that there is no intrinsic scent perception, that it all depends on context and associations formed in the moment to determine whether a scent is "good" or "bad." Someone else's description of spikenard certainly influences what I will smell when I first catch a whiff. Considering that spikenard, and its essential oil compound, was used to seduce a lover, anoint the feet of a man who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and satisfy aromatherapy enthusiasts around the world, my expectations are pretty high.