Traditionally, Rasgulla Day is celebrated in Puri of Odisha on the day marking the conclusion of Lord Jagannath’s Rath Yatra. But there was a time when this delicious dessert had to bear the rivalry between two states, Assam and West Bengal. The two said that Rasgulla was first made in their respective regions. Finally, in 2017, the dispute ended with West Bengal’s victory, and it attained the GI tag for it.
Rasgulla Heritage Battle Unfolds
The battle between Odisha and West Bengal for this sweet began almost nine years ago. In 2015, the Odisha government launched Rasgulla Day, claiming that this sweet delight was part of its heritage. Angered, the West Bengal government and the family of Nabin Chandra Das, famous for his confectionery skills, petitioned the Centre seeking a GI tag for Rasgulla. Historians from the 19th century cited by the West Bengal government evoke that Nabin Chandra Das invented that iconic Rasgulla way back in 1868.
Odisha Rasgulla Ownership
Odisha’s confectioners also opposed Bengal’s claims, asserting that for over 300 years, various types of Rasgullas have been offered as religious offerings to Lord Jagannath in their state. According to them, the rightful owner of the GI tag of Rasgulla was Odisha. The Odisha government had constituted a formal committee to take up the GI tag for Rasgulla. A team from the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks took three years to make several visits to Bengal and Odisha. They consulted local historians, went through hundreds of documents, and collected all the information pertaining to the dispute.
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Origin and Ownership Clarified
Historians stated that Bengal claims the variant of this delicious sweet as Chhena Rasgulla, invented in 1868. They also noted that the variant offered as an offering to Lord Jagannath is called Khira Mohana. According to Mahua Hom Choudhury, the senior scientist of the Patent Information Center under the Department of Science and Technology, they have finalized the scrutiny of figures and documents regarding it. She did the chemical analysis and also provided proof in court that this mouth watering sweet is originally a product of Bengal. She was in touch with the ministry concerning this case.
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