Bhubaneswar: It isn’t always a lot about the joyful flavor of this extensively famous candy dumpling as it is about the regional satisfaction connected to it through distinctive feature of its ancestry that is disputed sufficiently to convey human beings of neighboring states — Odisha and West Bengal — at the verge of verbal wars.
Known in varying spellings of rasagola, rasogolla, and rasgulla across the world, the syrupy dessert made and relished in Odisha has now been granted the Geographical Indication (GI) tag. The honor that Geographical Indication Registry (GIR), a Chennai-based organization of the principal government, accorded to the candy dish on Monday is for ‘Odisha Rasagola.’
This reputation spread waves of jubilation throughout the coastal state, got here slightly two weeks after locals celebrated the fifth ‘Rasagola Divas’ at the end of Lord Jagannath’s Rath Yatra and 8 months later. GIR granted a similar reputation to ‘Banglar Rasogolla.’
Hence, the spelling of the name at the packaging fabric is now topics greater than ever. If it is spelled ‘rasagola,’ just as people in Odisha pronounce it, it’s miles certified to were made in Odisha. The different spelling, ‘rasogolla,’ how Bengalis pronounce it, might mean that the candy dish has been made in West Bengal.
Apart from spelling, the two forms of the identical sweet dumpling vary in shade, texture, and the sound they produce – or do now not – even as being eaten.
“The range made in West Bengal, given GI tag in November 2017, is white and spongy. The Odisha range is either brown or white and is extremely soft,” stated journalist and creator Asit Mohanty, whose studies helped establish that the sweet dumpling had a far longer ancestry in Odisha.
The texture of the sweet dumpling is an essential differentiator between the 2 sorts. “Those who’ve tasted the Bengal rasogolla comprehend it needs to be chewed. The chewing makes a squelching sound, which becomes once defined with the aid of (legendary Odia dramatist) Gopal Chotray as a ‘Khar Khar’ sound. But Odisha rasagola is so tender that it melts in the mouth with only a little stress,” said Mohanty.
Entrepreneur Anita Sabat, who had started a social media campaign maintaining rasagola’s Odia origin in 2015 after a dispute arose with West Bengal, become pleased with approximately the ultra-modern recognition.
“This is, in reality, a wonderful day for Odisha. I sense proud for being one of the many that worked for this popularity,” said Sabat, who had spearheaded the birthday party of ‘Niladri Bije’ day as ‘Rasagola Divasa’ on social media that yr.
“It is now time that Odisha’s candies-makers retained the qualitative distinction of rasagola and commenced advertising it throughout the country and the sector. Branding of Odisha’s precise rasagola could soon set up its recognition and commercial achievement ways larger than its Bengali cousin,” stated Akshaya Kumar Lenka, president of Pahala Sweets Traders Association.
With rasogolla being an indispensable Bengali delicacy, the West Bengal authorities had claimed in 2015 that it originated in that country in the nineteenth century. In step with the authorities and scholars, it was created with the aid of famed sweetmeat-maker Nabin Chandra Das in 1868.
However, traditional students like Mohanty, who had been part of the 3 committees fashioned by way of the Odisha government, delved into historical Odia and Sanskrit texts to locate that rasagola and comparable sweets made with cottage cheese (chhena) turned into certainly used at Lord Jagannath’s temple as a long way again as 12th Century.
The Record of Rights of the sector-famous temple says rasagola became offered with the aid of the Lord to his wife, Goddess Lakshmi, during the age-vintage ritual of ‘Niladri Bije.’
Besides, as Mohanty is located, the word ‘rasagola’ is referred to inside the 15th-Century Odia epic ‘Dandi Ramayan,’ written via Balaram Das. This epic describes the story of Ramayana, which became popular in numerous parts of the united states after Tulsi Das wrote ‘Ram Charita Manasa’ in the sixteenth century.
