Located close to Munnar, the Marayoor Sandalwood Reserve is spread over 1,460.77 hectares and is managed by Kerala's Forest Department.
Published Jan 10, 2023 | 4:38 PM ⚊ Updated Jan 10, 2023 | 4:39 PM
A gaur crossing Marayoor sandalwood forests. (KA Shaji)
A dignified funeral at an affordable rate. This is the promise the officials managing India’s single-largest source of high-quality sandalwood are giving to those who find the perfumed wood costly on the occasions of death and the cremation of their close relatives.
Now, people can buy sandal briquettes made out of sandalwood chips at ₹350 per kg from the sales division of the Marayoor Sandalwood Reserve, located in the upper reaches of Kerala’s Idukki district.
Located close to Munnar, the Marayoor Sandalwood Reserve is spread over 1,460.77 hectares and is managed by Kerala’s Forest Department.
The reserve has 57,000 such highly-priced trees, and their estimated value is ₹3,000 crore.
Other than keeping these trees safe, the Marayoor Forest Division oversees the entire procurement, processing, and retailing of sandalwood across the state.
The sandalwood briquettes being developed at Marayoor. (Supplied)
Wherever and whenever a sandalwood tree is uprooted or completes its lifespan, it is transported to Marayoor for processing and retailing.
The processing happens at high-security workplaces in Marayoor and buyers from across the country reach this little-known place on a daily basis to procure the best sandalwood.
Usually, sandalwood is expensive, and only the rich can buy it in auctions at Marayoor.
And Marayoor has a long history of corporate families and top industrialists buying sandalwood for the funerals of their departed loved ones.
The forest division is selling 16 sandalwood products at present. These range from pieces of wood to sandalwood oil.
“Every year, 30-50 tonnes of sandalwood white chips are generated during the extraction process. Except for one or two tonnes of the chips purchased by ayurvedic medicine manufacturing companies, the rest gets
accumulated and wasted in the absence of demand,” Divisional Forest Officer MG Vinod Kumar explained to South First.
“So, we thought of making briquettes using the chips and marketing them as affordable sandalwood to ensure dignified funerals,” he added.
Equipped with a government order, the forest division started making briquettes in November 2022, and it now gets bulk orders from across India.
The sandalwood briquettes being developed at Marayoor. Photo: Supplied
“Across India, people find cremating using sandalwood appropriate to ensure moksha for their dearly departed,” said Vinod. “The availability issue and the vast restrictions on its purchase are their stumbling blocks.”
He added: “We supplied the briquettes for funerals on a trial basis across Idukki recently, and it was a success. We will start commercial manufacturing soon.”
Vinod hopes that the briquettes would help the forest division generate an additional ₹1 crore revenue per year.
Depending on the availability, anybody can buy these briquettes from Marayoor without legal hurdles.
The white portions of sandalwood are not being used to extract oil, and neither are the buyers of this premium wood showing any interest in them.
But the briquettes have already started catching the fancy of buyers from across India.
Besides being the single-largest source of sandalwood in the country, Marayoor is a crucial forest terrain that connects the national parks of Eravikulam, Chinnar, Kurinjimala, Anamudi, and Pampadum Shola.
Animals from the Munnar forest division frequent these forests, and it also supports the adjacent reserves of Kodakkad and Theerthamalai.
Marayoor has many wild animals, including elephants and the Indian bison, and supports numerous streams and creeks that irrigate the Kanthalloor-Marayoor agricultural regions.
The Marayoor forest division made headlines recently by using solar energy for conservation — the first time in the country.
As the premium sandalwood trees remain a target of timber smugglers, the reserve installed over 200 solar lampposts in crucial areas, ensuring more visibility for guarding officials.
In the absence of grid connectivity to get conventional energy, the forest division leaned on non-conventional energy using storage batteries.
An example of effective forest management, the reserve owes credit for its discovery by the outside world to British-Indian botanist TF Bourdillon, who was appointed as conservator of forests by the princely state of Travancore way back in 1886.
The first task awarded to him by the princely state was to explore the surrounding forests and take stock of their resources.
A forest official guards the sandalwood stock at Marayoor. (KA Shaji)
Later known as the author of the highly-acclaimed research work The Forests of Travancore, Bourdillon moved around the state and explored its rich biodiversity.
He documented the peculiarities and geographical aspects of different forest regions of the present southern Kerala region.
On 29 December, 1892, Bourdillon reached Kilikoodu Mala alias Kilikoodu Hill on the upper reaches of present-day Munnar, and spotted an exclusive 12-square-km forest of Santalum album or Indian sandalwood.
Endemic to South India and Southeast Asia, the Indian sandalwood tree is considered divine by Hindus and many indigenous cultures.
Its distinct fragrance and perceived medicinal qualities make it a high-value species vulnerable to overexploitation.
TF Bourdillon, Botanist. (Wikimedia Commons)
Bourdillon described Kilikoodu as a part of the Anjunad hills and valleys, where scant rainfall and a dry climate persisted.
He said that the peculiar climate there, which contrasted sharply with what existed in Munnar, helped the sandalwood trees thrive and reproduce naturally without any human involvement.
Bourdillon had seen the same trees in the princely state of Mysore, in the Island of Timor, and some parts of Java before reaching Anjunad.
Further, he certified the local sandalwood of Anjunad as the most scented among those he had analysed.
Over the years, Anjunad was rechristened Marayoor, and its unique sandalwood forests became India’s only forest division.
With the degradation of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka sandalwood forests at the hands of notorious brigand Veerappan, Marayoor now enjoys large-scale global attention as the hub of original, naturally-grown sandalwood.
Before the forest division was declared in 2005, Marayoor’s sandalwood forests were subjected to large-scale felling and smuggling by lobbies operating across South India.
As sandalwood from Marayoor contains high levels of oil and vast amounts of hardwood, they are very much in demand globally.
Marayoor has seen no smuggling incidents, thanks to the round-the-clock security. Currently keeping vigil are four deputy forest rangers, 16 foresters, 52 beat foresters, 47 tribal watchers, and 200 temporary watchers.
Every year, the reserve contributes an average of ₹50 crore to the state’s conservation and forestry activities by auctioning the dead and felled sandalwood trees.
Now, it is a prominent spot in India to officially purchase sandalwood.
“Our clientele even includes Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Ltd (which makes the renowned Mysore Sandal Soap), handicraft manufacturers in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka, leading ayurveda companies, and various temple committees,” said Vinod.
A single kilogram of sandalwood oil costs about ₹76,000 at the government market. It takes about 100 kg of sandalwood to get 4 kg of oil.
Sandalwood sells at about ₹2,000 per kg at government auctions, though the smuggled variety is sold at around ₹1,000.
All the parts, except the leaves, can be used, and its bark alone could fetch ₹250 per kg.
Marayoor sandalwood reserve. (KA Shaji/South First)
Now, sandalwood trees that fall in any part of Kerala are brought to the sandalwood depot at Marayoor and then weighed.
The respective landowner gets the market price for the tree grown on his or her land if it is free of any liabilities.
The owner is not paid if the tree is on assigned deeded land.
Officials say the Santalum album is the best among the 30 varieties of sandalwood worldwide.
Recently, Australia began a plantation using saplings procured from Kerala. Karnataka and Tamil Nadu’s forest departments also buy saplings from Marayoor to plant in their reserves.
The planting of sandalwood saplings was introduced in Marayoor and the surrounding forests in 2018.
Sandalwood trees are partial-root parasites and will not survive on themselves. They need hosts for their nutritional requirements. So, the saplings should be planted along with other trees.
