What do you think this is?

What is it used for? Where is it used?

This is an incense burner from India. It is made out of copper, and has ornate designs on the sides and lid. Incense is a substance which makes fragrant smoke when burned. There are many types of incense, and its use dates back many millennia, from cultures around the world. There have been a wide range of uses for incense, sometimes religious and sometimes purely personal, often with the aim of making a space feel different through the use of fragrance.

This burner was used by placing incense into the central space and lighting it, then placing the lid on the top so the smoke could diffuse slowly, filling the space with its fragrance. Historical records of the use of incense in India goes back thousands of years, at least as far as the Vedas, religious texts which date from about three thousand years ago. This incense burner was donated to the Karshner Center in 1993.

For more information, visit:

• This artifact in the Karshner Digital Collections
• Artifact Worksheets you can use in your classroom or for homeschool
• Incense [Britannica]
• More History of Incense
• The History of Incense in India