Geographical Indication tag sparks a bitter debate on rasgulla
BHUBANESWAR: The iconic rasgulla finds itself at the centre of a bitter debate as to where it originated with Odisha seeking a Geographical Indication (GI) tag for it.
Most food historians in West Bengal believe it was invented in then Calcutta in 1868 by iconic confectioner Nobin Chandra Das, whose son later founded the famous sweetmeat chain K C Das.
The debate gains momentum now at the time of the closing of the festival, Nabakalebara (soul transformation of the holy trinity) Rath Yatra in Puri, with Surya Narayan Rath Sharma — a researcher associated with Jagannath Temple — claiming that the rasgulla originated in Puri and is offered to gods every year.
Laxmidhar Pujapanda, PRO of the temple, says: "Rasgulla has been part of Rath Yatra rituals ever since the Jagannath temple came into existence in the 12th century."
According to legend, Lord Jagannath on Niladri Bije offered rasgullas to appease his consort Laxmi, who was upset after went on the nine-day Rath Yatra without her consent and locked the Jai Vijay Dwar, a gates of the temple.
This week, more than 15 quintals of rasgulla were offered to Laxmi as part of Niladri Bije, a ceremony that marks the end of the chariot festival.
However, Animikh Roy, great-great-grandson of Nobin Das, says, "As Odisha has taken the step to get GI status for rasgulla, we're also going forward to protect the identity of rasgulla, which people for 150 years have identified with Bengal."
Roy, along with historian Haripada Bhowmik, has prepared a report to be sent to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. The report says: "Lord Jagannath can never be associated to chhana-based (cottage cheese) offerings... Historically speaking, the origin of the word 'chhana' comes from the Sanskrit word 'chinna' which means a torn, broken and fragmented milk product, clearly an indication of spoilt milk. Hence it was considered a blasphemy to offer sweets or anything made of 'chhana' to gods."
It added that rasgulla is not even mentioned in the Chhappan Bhog of Jagannath temple.
Laxmidhar Pujapanda refused to accept this argument. He said, "No one can deny the offering of rasgulla on Niladri Bije began along with the establishment of the temple about 900 years ago. This is written in Niladri Mahoday, an age-old scripture. It is true that rasgulla is not mentioned in the Chhappan Bhog, but no one can ignore Niladri Bije rituals."
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...r-debate-on-rasgulla/articleshow/48302143.cms
Other References:
Oxford Dictionaries describe rasgulla origin from Hindi rasgullā, from ras 'juice' + gullā 'ball'. The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets By Michael Krondl, Eric Rath, Laura Mason, Geraldine Quinzio, Ursula Heinzelmann. Page 580 describes, "rosogolla, often spelled rasgulla, is a popular Indian ball-shaped sweet prepared from chhana (fresh milk curd) soaked in sugar syrup. These moist treats are common sight as sweet shops across the subcontinent. In India, rosogolla is primarily associated with West Bengal, where it is just one, if perhaps the best known, of numberless chhana-based sweets." Page 359 of the same book describes, "Bengalis - inhabitants of the Indian state of West Bengal and the Republic of Bangladesh - are famous for their love of misti, or sweets, considered the apogee of the Indian sweet maker's art. Most commercial sweets are made from channa; khoa is used mainly as a secondary ingredient".... "The most famous sweets are rosogolla, a light spongy white ball of chhana served in sugar syrup; rajbhog, a giant rosogolla; a dark-colored fried version called ledikini; cham cham, small patties dipped in thick-ended milk and sprinkled with grated khoa; ras malai, khoa and sugar balls floating in cardamom-flavoured cream; and pantua, sausage-shaped spheres fried to a golden brown and dropped in sugar syrup."
Khiramohana or, Kheer Mohan is a creamish sweet popular & invented in
Odisha since the
Jagannath Temple,
Puri came into existence. The sweet, offered to the goddess
Lakshmi during the
Rath Yatra of the temple. Now, the sweet is though made of chhena and cooked in sugar syrup but there is no concrete evidence that chhena, which we know today, existed at the time of the sweet's invention. It is very unlikely of its existence then.
Pahala Rasgulla, the descendant and an alternative name of
Khiramohana , is a yellowish brown, crumbly, syrupy sweet popular & available only in Pahala region of
Odisha.
Rosogolla is a light spongy white ball of chhana stewed in sugar syrup (rasa). The form of
Rosogolla that we know today is different from
Khiramohana of
Odisha in various aspects. Evidenly,
Nobin Chandra Das of
Kolkata,
West Bengal, discovered the sweet. Its alternative names are
Rossogolla,
Rasagolla &
Roshogolla, and its variations are
Kamala Bhog,
Raj Bhog,
Roso Malai etc. The name of the sweet is anglicize to
Rasgulla, after many non-
Bengali speaking Indians started calling it by this name.
NB:
Kheer in Kheer Mohan, suggests a condensed milk pudding, is not chhena.
rasa+gōllā = রস+গোল্লা (Rosogolla) - as per
Bengali Language dictionaries, (the Bengalis tend to pronounce the dental
sa as palatal
sha and the sound
a as
o). However, no other languages Indian dictionaries mention the word
gōllā meaning
a globular sweetmeat (রসগোল্লা, কাঁচাগোল্লা).
রস [rasa] = a liquid solution of anything hard (চিনির রস);
a syrup; juice; URL to see
http://www.ovidhan.org/b2b/রস
গোল্লা
[gōllā] =
a globular sweetmeat (রসগোল্লা, কাঁচাগোল্লা); URL to see
http://www.ovidhan.org/b2b/গোল্লা Written in
English Language the sweet spelt as
Rosogolla, (spelt রসগোল্লা written in Bengali Language).
- Kunal Chakrabarti, Shubhra Chakrabarti (22 August 2013). Historical Dictionary of the Bengalis. Scarecrow Press, Inc. pp. xiv–. ISBN 978-0-8108-8024-5.
- Darra Goldstein, Sidney Mintz, Michael Krondl, Eric Rath, Laura Mason, Geraldine Quinzio, Ursula Heinzelmann (1 April 2015). The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets. Oxford University Press. pp. 359–. ISBN 978-0-19-931339-6.
- "History of rossogolla now just a click away". The Times of India. 15 March 2013.
- Kunal Chakrabarti, Shubhra Chakrabarti (22 August 2013). Historical Dictionary of the Bengalis. Scarecrow Press, Inc. pp. 188–. ISBN 978-0-8108-8024-5.
A reading of the scholarly Book named '
The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets by Michael Krondl, Eric Rath, Laura Mason, Geraldine Quinzio, Ursula Heinzelmann'
, it clearly spells the sweet as rosogolla. The book states, "rosogolla is primarily associated with
West Bengal where it is just one, if perhaps the best known, of numberless channa-based sweets. Channa from cow's milk is considered best for rosogolla.” The book also highlights history of rosogolla associated with
Kolkata and
West Bengal. There is a full one and half page writing on rosogolla that sufficiently convinces a wise men’s mind that rosogolla indeed associated with
Kolkata and
West Bengal, since it's invention and till date. Nomenclature, spelling, invention of rosogolla strongly associated with Bengal and Bengali Language speaking people in both places,
West Bengal and
Bangladesh. Therefore, none should disagree that rosogolla’s validity necessarily rest on the dictionaries of Bengal but not necessarily in any other dictionaries. Any relevant word first enters into a local dictionary, might be updated in the dictionaries of other locations, later.
Rosogolla is a Formal name of the desert, as per initial dictionaries published in India in Bengali Language and other scholarly books relevant. Among many, the dictionary at
www.ovidhan.org rasa (রস) means a liquid solution of anything hard (চিনির রস); a syrup; and,
gōllā (গোল্লা) means
a globular sweetmeat (রসগোল্লা, কাঁচাগোল্লা), Therefore, making formal name of the desert Rosogolla. The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets of Oxford University Press, describes Rosogolla at
page 359. ISBN 978-0-19-931339-6. Historical Dictionary of the Bengalis of Scarecrow Press, Inc, under series editor Jon Woronoff also describes Rosogolla at
page No. 188. ISBN 978-0-8108-8024-5. Therefore, formal name of Rosogolla is undisputed. On the other hand, no other Indian dictionaries, except the above, mentions gōllā, it supports that the same desert named as Rasgulla is COLLOQUIAL in nature. Rasgulla is not perfectly spelt as per NOMENCLATURE also, but called by other language speaking Indians. It's Correct name is Rosogolla. Rosogolla is not only original name, it also is the desert’s formal name therefore, most common and familiar name should be Rosogolla and not Rasgulla.
Almost all, among
254 million Bengali (click here to read), speaking people, both in
West Bengal and
Bangladesh use the desert Rosogolla and they spell it exactly as Rosogolla, Therefore, considering Rosogolla's comparable actual usage, and the desert’s familiarity with total number of people calling the desert as Rosogolla is much more above the number of people who prefer to call it as Rasgulla.