For what purpose are Attar scents used in the novel, The Widows of Malabar Hill?

Attars are alcohol-free essences of fragrant flowers, trees and shrubs, and they seem to work in a secretive way on humans; for example, rose to work with anxiety or sandalwood for sexuality. When Perveen walks into the attar shop, she stops breathing “for a moment as she thought that these myriad fragrances, just like the secrets at the Farid house, couldn’t be completely suppressed” (272).