Definition of "kesar"

But moſt were ſtampt, and in their metal bareThe antique ſhapes of kings and keſars ſtraung & rare.

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, stanza 5, page 273

Now no more of winters biting,Filth in trench from fall to spring,Summers full of sweat and fightingFor the Kesar or the King.

1922 October, A[lfred] E[dward] Housman, “[Poem] VIII”, in Last Poems, London: Grant Richards Ltd., stanza 3, page 23, lines 5–6

The newly emerging Muslim middle class would offer ‘kesar’ tea after marriages or other formal feasts, replacing the traditional tea leaves with kesar strands. […] Over the years Pampur’s apiculture, claimed by many to create the best medicinal honey in the region, that is, kesar honey, has also prospered.

2001, Arun Kaul, “Kesar: The cultural geography of Kashmir”, in The Human Landscape, page 228