Rasagola row: Odisha caught twiddling its thumbs as Bengal leads in GI tagging race

Bhubaneswar: It is a classic case of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. After a rare head-start, Odisha looks like losing the rasagola ‘battle’ to its neighbour West Bengal through a combination of lethargy and bad strategy.

When the dispute arose over the origin of the syrupy sweet, voted India’s ’national dessert’ in a nationwide survey, in July, Odisha had everything going in its favour. For once, the government had acted proactively, initiating a move to get geographical indication (GI) status for the famous Pahala Rasagola, named after the place midway between Bhubaneswar and Cuttack on the National Highway No 5 where the stuff is on abundant display on either side of the busy road. It had the recorded history of the Lord Jagannath Temple in Puri, where the sweet is supposed to have been in use for at least three centuries, and a host of other ancient treatises to back its claim. Why, it even had some leading Bengali historians and authors backing its claim as the place of origin of the sweet!

But six weeks down the line, the tables have turned. With focused attention, systematic planning and meticulous preparation, West Bengal now appears to have stolen a march over its neighbour to get the coveted GI tag for its ‘rasogolla’. Soon after news spread that Odisha had initiated a move to get GI norm for its Pahala Rasagola, Bengal roped in historian Haripada Bhowmick to prepare a dossier to back its claim as the place of origin of this much loved sweet. Armed with the dossier, an official of the Science and Technology department is reportedly all set to visit Chennai and approach the Intellectual Property authority to make its case for GI. Reports emanating from the neighbouring state suggest that Bengal has built its case on the recorded history of the rasogolla, according to which Nabin Chandra Das, father of the famous KC Das who took the sweet far and wide, ‘invented’ this mouth-watering sweet in 1868.

Meanwhile, the Odisha government, after initiating the move to get GI status for Pahala Rasagola, went into a deep slumber. It has woken up only now, when West Bengal is already closing in on the finishing line, and has begun some frantic, but directionless, running around to build up a case for itself. As it often happens after a deep slumber, there is a lack of clarity of thought in the way the Odisha government is going about building its case.

By now, it is clear that the only way Odisha can win the copyright battle over rasagola is if it makes use of the wealth of historical and archival material available to prove that the tradition of Lord Jagannath offering rasagola to his consort Goddess Mahalaxmi rasagola on Niladri Bije (the day after Rath Yatra when the deities return to their abode inside the temple after the annual Rath Yatra) to assuage her hurt at not being taken along, is at least three centuries old, if not older. It is thus considerably older than the nearly 150-year history of the Bengali rasogolla. But for reasons that are inexplicable, the Odisha government appears to be fixated on the Pahala Rasagola.

“The history of Pahala Rasagola goes back no more than 70-80 years. There are no prizes for guessing who would win the battle if there is toss-up between Pahala Rasgola and the Bengali rasagola first made by Nabin Chandra Das. For the life of me, I cannot understand why the Odisha government is obsessed with Pahala when we can win hands down with historical evidence proving that rasagola has been part of the tradition in the Jagannath Temple for centuries,” says Asit Mohanty, an author who has researched extensively on the Jagannath cult.

Maheswar Mohanty, senior BJD leader and Puri MLA, too understands that Pahala is the wrong horse to back. “There is reference to rasagola in Madala Panji (a 12 century treatise that chronicles the traditions of the Jagannath Temple) and Dandi Ramayana written by Balaram Das. We are collecting material to prove that rasagola originated in Odisha,” says the former minister, who headed the high-powered infrastructure committee on Nabakalebara. Science and Technology minister Pradeep Panigrahi echoes his party colleague.

But in a case of the left hand not knowing what the right is doing, the Industries department, which is pursuing the case for GI status, is still clutching on to the Pahala rasagola. “We don’t have any documentary proof on rasagolas being offered as bhog to Lord Jagannath. The Culture department might be having it,” says Nityananda Pallai, director, Industries department.

Asked if toeing the Pahala line would not cost Odisha dear in the battle for copyright over rasagola, Palai says, “Not really. Pahala Rasagola has a good chance of getting GI status because of its unique making style and its distinctive taste,” he says. It is obvious that he is clutching at straws and trying to make the best out of a lost cause.

The confusion does not augur well for Odisha in the battle over the syrupy sweet. Muddled thinking and working at cross purposes look like robbing Odisha of something that rightfully belongs to it.