Rasagola: the Ritual Offering of Odisha
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ISSN 0970-8669 Odisha Review Rasagola: The Ritual offering of Odisha Asit Mohanty Translated from Odia by Supriya Kar Rasagola belongs to Odisha. There’s no doubt about it. There’re lots of information and evidence to support this claim. It is one of the traditional food offerings made to Lord Jagannath. As part of the last ritual of Rath Yatra, known as ‘Niladri Bije’ (Lord Jagannath’s return to his abode after nine days), it is offered to goddess Lakshmi on behalf of Lord Jagannath. Lord Jagannath had gone to visit his birth place accompanied by His brother and sister for nine days, and that had made his wife, Goddess Lakshmi angry. It is, through providing sufficient evidence in the however, unfortunate that West Bengal has form of arguments and establish logically the claimed itself to be the place of origin of rasagola claim of Odisha. as well as of the word ‘rasagola’. In the middle of 2015, Government of Rasagola is a soft, small-sized sweet. Its Odisha started the procedure to acquire the shape could be bigger than a tiny ball and smaller Geographic Indications (GI) status for rasagola than a hand bomb. And yet, a ‘sweet war’ has prepared in Pahala, a place situated on the NH5 commenced between two neighbouring states, between Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. The Odisha and West Bengal, over it. Odisha has specialty of GI status is this: it is an identity marker retorted strongly by celebrating the Rasagola Day for a particular product or commodity originating for the first time on 30th July 2015. However, from a particular place. The Odishan products one may create certain amount of public which have acquired the GI status include awareness through celebrating such a day once a Kotapada handloom sari and ikat, the stone year, but that cannot be the valid evidence on the sculpture of Konark, patta chitra and appliqué basis of which it can be said rasagola belongs to of Pipili, khandua sari, Sambalpuri handloom Odisha. If one wants to claim that ‘rasagola saris, Bomkai sari and clothes, Berhampur silk belongs to Odisha’ and that ‘rasagola is part sari and clothes, Gopalpur tussar weaves, kia of the ritual food offering at Lord Jagannath flower and its essence from Ganjam, curtains and temple’, one has to reject Bengal’s claim handlooms of Dhala Pathara and Odisha 76 April - 2017 Odisha Review ISSN 0970-8669 Pattachitra (logo). All these have been registered The Cornwalis Story1 with special GI status. There had been no According to one such story, when Lord controversy in the process of acquiring GI status Cornwalis was the Governor General of India, for all these products. However, the claim rasagola belongs to Odisha has stirred a long dormant he wanted to please the landlords in order to get dispute between West Bengal and Odisha. more levy from them. A large banquet was arranged for the landlords. As it was customary, People of Bengal were startled and claimed the important guests were offered pudding as loudly ‘rasagola belongs to us’. The people of dessert at such banquets. But the regular Bengali Odisha did no less. There were heated cook who prepared pudding suddenly fell ill that discussions, debates in newspapers, journals, day; as a result, the responsibility fell on another magazines, and also on television channels. This cook. He did not know how to prepare pudding. issue was also raised in the Odisha State The milk meant for preparing pudding could not Assembly. As a result, Government of Odisha be processed properly and it curdled. As the man formed three committees under the supervision of the Department of Science and Technology on did not know what to do with the chhena (cottage 22nd September, 2015. The objectives of these cheese) thus formed out of it, he put all of it in a committees were: piece of cloth and tied it into a bundle and hung it. But no one knew how, the knot opened and 1. To collect sufficient data and evidence, the cottage cheese fell into a large pan full of sugar and apply for rasogolla’s GI status or patent at syrup. Next morning, it was found that the cottage the Registrar of Intellectual Property Rights, cheese was floating in the syrup. He tasted a bit Government of India out of it and found it delicious. None of the guests 2. To prove wrong the baseless claims of had ever tasted such a delicious sweet before. Bengal that rasagola belongs to Bengal Everybody started praising it effusively. According 3. To place a demand to disrespect to this story, it was the initial form of rasagola. Bengal’s claim and approve Odisha’s. Hence, according to this story, rasagola In the mean time, a few GI authorities have was first prepared in Bengal towards the end of stated that it is not viable to claim GI status for a eighteenth century. But the information provided food product like rasagola. It may be mentioned by Bengalis themselves is that rasogolla was here the GI status has been conferred on food prepared in 1868. products like ladoo of Tirupati, ratalami seo of Rasogolla, which enthralls all Madhya Pradesh, peda of Dharwad, halim of Hyderabad, and muan of Joynagar (West No sooner than the debate got stirred Bengal). So, why isn’t it justified to demand a GI whether rasogolla belonged to Odisha or Bengal, status for rasagola of Odisha ? Odisha has a Haripada Bhowmik, a Bengali scholar who number of infallible weapons, too. researches on culture, wrote a book really fast, When and where exactly the preparation Rasogolla Banglar Jagatmatano Abiskar of rasagola started remains unknown. However, (Rasogolla which enthralls all is an invention of those who say that it originated in Bengal have Bengal) and published it in August 2015. It has stories to offer. been published by Gangchil, Kolkata2. April - 2017 77 ISSN 0970-8669 Odisha Review Kshiramohan and Kshiragolak Chakuli chhunchi patara chhena manohara 4 He has written in the introduction of the Kshiri kshirisa sakara sakala drabya sara. book, “All of a sudden it is demanded by Odisha Balarama Das’s Odia Ramayana is known that rasogolla’s place of origin is Puri, and that it as Dandi Ramayana or Jagamohana was initially known as kshiramohan. It was clear Ramayana. There are ample descriptions of from the name that it is actually kshiragolak. The chhena and chhena products in it. Pundit Govinda real rasogolla is never prepared from milk. Rath was the first scholar to edit and publish it. Rasogolla is prepared from chhena processed He was born in the Patapur (Padmanavapur) from curdled milk. Some of the Odia researchers sasan in Banki in 1848. He did a lot of work for term rasogolla as chhena ra kshiramohan. Odia language and literature and died on 19th May Chhena and Kshira—both are formed out of 1918. He sourced, edited and written more than milk. If hot milk is curdled, chhena (cottage two hundred books. He had established a press, cheese) is formed, and if milk is boiled and Ratha Press in Cuttack and published books of thickened, it becomes condensed milk, kshira. medieval poets such as Abhimanyu So kshira is never referred to as chhena. Hence, Samantasinhara, Upendra Bhanja, Baladev Rath ‘chhena ra kshiramohan’ phrase is like a stone along with the works of the pioneer of modern bowl of gold.” Odia literature: Fakir Mohan Senapati. The Chhena exclusively belongs to Bengal ? Dandi Balmiki Ramayana published by him is worth mentioning.5 Its first edition is available at Haripada Bhowmik has made a laughable the centuries old literary institution of Odisha, Utkal claim regarding chhena in his book: The word Sahitya Samaja; Cuttack.6 There is the mention chhena was prevalent is Bengal. This word does of rasagola in it. not exist in Sanskrit literature or dictionaries. In them the spoilt substance (which is prepared by According to the description in Balaram curdling milk) is known as ‘amiksha’, ‘kilata’, and Das’ Ramayana, in ‘Ajodhya Kanda’, after ‘dudhakurchika’. From Sanskrit ‘chhinna’ Rama left for forest, Bharat and Satrughna went ‘chhana’ or ‘chhena’ has come. This word is to bring him back and accepted the hospitality of originally a Bangla word.”3 But the word ‘chhena’ sage Bharadwaj. Sage Bharajwaj served them and the delicacies made from it are widely and their followers all kinds of food and delicacies mentioned in the Mahabharata by Sarala Das, which included dudha chhena (cottage cheese the Ramayana of Balaram Das and other such prepared from milk). And the products from Odia works belonging to fifteenth century. chhena that he had served included chhena puri, Sarala Das is known as the ‘adikabi’ (first chhena ladu, rasogolla, and rasabali. poet) of Odisha. According to the description in Bhowmik has made a ludicrous attempt in his Mahabharata’s ‘Madhya Parva’, during the his book and tried to prove that the origin of planning of dharma jajna, Arjuna brought Sri rasogolla is Bengal. However, the description of Krishna to Barunabanta. Mother Kunti served chhena and rasagola and such terms in the above- them many delicacies. Among these were chhena mentioned works of Sarala Das, Balaram Das, and delicacies made of chhena. To describe it, Brajanath Badajena and Abhimanyu Samanta Sarala Das has written: Simhara show this claim to be of no 78 April - 2017 Odisha Review ISSN 0970-8669 consequence. The reason according to (literally, which has been cut). In Odia, the phrase researchers is that Sarala Das belonged to the used for this is, ‘chhena chhindiba’. Pundit period of reign of the Gajapati king of Gopinath Nandasharma8 has also said that Odisha, Kapilendra Dev (1435-68) and his son chhena is derived from the word chhinna.