The Oldest Historical References to Oud: When Did Humanity Know This Precious Wood?
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Humanity has known oud for thousands of years, and the ancient civilizations left references to it in their sacred texts, their books and their trade documents. Tracing these references reveals how precious and cross-cultural oud was. In this article we survey the oldest historical references to oud: where it was mentioned, when, and what they tell us about its standing across the ages.
Oud in the ancient texts
References to oud are scattered across distant civilizations, which indicates the early spread of its trade:
| The source / civilization | The reference |
|---|---|
| The Indian Sanskrit texts | An early mention of oud (aguru) in the books of medicine and ritual |
| The ancient religious texts | References to a precious aromatic wood used for perfuming |
| The ancient Chinese records | A documentation of oud as a luxury commodity in the court and medicine |
What do these references tell us?
The antiquity of the references confirms that oud was not a recent discovery but an ancient commodity that crossed the continents early. Its appearance in distant Indian, Chinese and religious texts indicates that its trade linked the Far East with the ancient world centuries ago. Its primary source was the forests of Southeast Asia, where Indonesian oud is still extracted to this day. And to live what the ancients knew, try its scent on an oud sample from the same source.
The mention of oud in some texts goes back thousands of years, making it one of the oldest documented aromatic materials in human history, alongside incense and myrrh. Its high value made it mentioned at times alongside gold and jewels.
Why are the oldest references scarce?
The difficulty of tracing the oldest references is due to the fact that the names differed across languages and ages, for the word "oud" has many synonyms in Sanskrit, Chinese, Hebrew and Greek. At times the aromatic wood is mentioned without a precise identification of the type. So the researcher needs to link the descriptions to the commercial and geographic context to be sure that oud is what is meant. Nevertheless, the confirmed references are enough to prove the antiquity of this precious wood.
Because oud has different names across languages, many historical references to it may not yet have been attributed to it due to the difference in naming. Tracing these names is a subject in its own right that we detail later in this guide.
Conclusion
The oldest historical references to oud extend thousands of years in ancient Indian, Chinese and religious texts, which proves that it is an ancient, cross-cultural commodity that linked the Far East with the ancient world. Its many names perhaps hide more references. And its source remained the forests of Southeast Asia. We at Oud Treasure are an extension of this heritage, providing authentic oud from the same source so you live the fragrance of history.
We are an oud supplier from the source in Indonesia: authentic, high-quality oud from the source that supplied civilizations for centuries, and wholesale quantities. Start with a sample or browse wholesale oud.
Request an oud sampleBrowse wholesale oudThe full guide: The History of Oud from the Forests of Asia to the Arabian Peninsula
Next article: The History of the Oud Trade
