Bhubaneswar, July 17: The Puri Jagannath temple wore a festive look today as Lord Jagannath and his siblings returned to the 12th century shrine after their nine-day sojourn in a ritual called niladri bije.
The Trinity were offered rasgullas as bhog before they were taken into the sanctum sanctorum in a ceremonial procession called pahandi. While the occasion was celebrated with religious fervour at Puri, the juicy sweet was the talk of the town here with people celebrating Rasgulla Divas.
Since last year's Nabakalebar festival, the occasion of niladri bije has been dedicated to rasgullas by Odias worldwide.
Confectioners in Pahala decorated their kiosks with balloons and visitors were offered free sweets. Located on NH-5 between Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, more than 300 people are engaged in making the delectable sweet in around 80 kiosks.
The confectioners also put up an exhibition to showcase different variants of the sweets.
"We are trying to reinvent the traditional rasgulla and come up with a variety of options to attract more customers. We mix them with chocolate to cater children and are also attempting to make sugar-free ones," Pahala Rasgulla Bybasayi Mahasangha secretary Niranjan Behera said.
They are hopeful that state government will be successful in obtaining the geographical indication (GI) tag for the sweet.
"We have been making the sweets for a long time and if the government steps in to endorse our livelihood, we will be able to market our products in a better way," added Behera.
Odisha Khadi and Village Industries Board president Tejeswar Parida said the state micro, small and medium industries department was attempting to organise cluster development exercises for the makers of Pahala rasgulla.
"We want to ensure necessary facilities for the sellers and better packaging to boost sales of this popular item. With the cluster development plan, the local rasgulla makers can also increase their export and transport potential," Parida said.
Rasgulla Divas also dominated as the central theme at 27th Raahgiri at Janpath here with visitors getting a chance to witness how the state's favourite delicacy is made.
Guests at the event spoke about how the rasgulla was Odisha's pride and the connection between the spongy sweet and Lord Jagannath's temple traditions, which dates back centuries.
Researcher Asit Mohanty, who recently submitted a report to the state government citing evidences of its presence in the state prior to Bengal, was also present. He talked about the concept of GI and the steps the state was taking towards obtaining the tag for the rasgulla.
Rasgulla became a topic of discussion on various social networking sites with youngsters sharing tales of the age-old sweet on Facebook and Twitter.
