Kolkata: Rasgulla — voted India’s National Dessert — finds itself at the centre of a bitter battle between West Bengal and Odisha over its origin, as the latter is seeking a Geographical Indication (GI) tag for it.

A GI tag identifies a product as originating from a certain location and assures its distinctive quality.

Most food historians believe it was invented in the then Calcutta in 1868, by iconic confectioner Nobin Chandra Das, and has gained international repute ever since.

However, researchers in Odisha claim to have found enough evidence to prove the syrupy sweet was invented in their state.

The researchers claim that the rasagola — that is how it is spelt and pronounced in Odisha — has been a part of the Rath Yatra rituals ever since the temple came into existence in Puri, Odisha, in the 12th century, which makes it at least 700 years old and thus much older than the 150-year history of the Bengali “rasogolla”.

As per legend, Lord Jagannath offered this sweet to his consort deity Laxmi on the day of Niladri Bije — the day when the deities return to their abode after the annual Rath Yatra — who was upset after went on the nine-day tour without her consent and locked the gates of the temple.

“Rasagola is part of our tradition and it is true that Bengali’s have made it famous but it was invented here,” said Saptarshi Mahapatra, a research student in Bhubaneswar.

However, confectioners in Kolkata are not willing to give up and even willing to go to court over the origin of the syrupy sweet.

“We will do everything to protect the identity of rasgulla, which people globally have always identified with Bengal,” Animikh Roy, great-great-grandson of Nobin Chandra Das.

“This sudden controversy about the origin of the sweet is uncalled for, as the sweet has been part of Bengal ever since. This is a violation of intellectual property. It is our fault that we did not do all this earlier and now others will claim credit,” said Arun Banerjee, a food historian.

Social media was raging with this bittersweet battle and both communities were up in arms over the issue.

“If this is the claim why didn’t they [Odisha] do it earlier? The sweet is a gift of Bengal to the world,” wrote Susmita Gupta on Twitter.