Rashmi Rekha Das

Rasagola is very much associated with Lord Jagannath. Odias across the globe celebrate Rasagola Diwas on Niladri Bije Day. According to mythology, Lord Jagannath leaves his wife Goddess Laxmi in Srimandri while going to his aunt’s house along with his brother Lord Balabhadra and sister Goddess Subhadra for nine days.

On Niladri Bije day, Goddess Lakhmi allows Lord Balabhadra, Goddess Subhadra and Lord Sudarshana to enter the temple, but when Lord Jagannath makes entry to the temple, she orders her servitors to close the Jaya Vijaya gate of the Singhadwar.  Earlier on Hera Panchami day, Goddess Lakhmi went to Gundhicha temple to meet Lord Jagannath but he closed the door of Gundicha temple and did not meet her. Thus Goddess Lakhmi became so angry.

In order to pacify Goddess Lakhmi, Lord Jagannath offers Rasagola to Goddess Lakhmi on Niladri Bije day and gets entry into the sanctum sanctorum, twelve days after they had set out to Gundicha Devi temple for their annual Ratha Yatra.

When asked about Rasagola Day, Minister of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises Pratap Keshari Deb said, “Odisha has got Geography indication tag long back. If someone claims ownership of Rasagola, that will be baseless. Rasagola has been associated with our age-old Jagannath culture. We should ignore the controversy surrounding Rasagola. The government is working on the Rasagola cluster. However, the success of Rasagola cluster completely depends on businessmen. The state government can only encourage the businessmen.”

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