Hyderabad, Feb. 19 -- If Hyderabad is famous for its biryani, Kolkata is famous for its sweets. Among many mouth-watering Bengali sweets, one of the most popular ones is the Rasgulla or Rosogolla as the Bengalis call it. But this spongy white ball which has delighted the palate of all Indians has been the subject of a long and bitter feud regarding its origins and evolution.

It is generally known as a Bengali sweet but this notion has been vehemently contested for decades by rasgulla lovers of Odisha. According to food lovers and historians of Odisha, the rasgulla originated in the city of Puri and it evolved from a sweet called Khira Mohana.

The Jagannath temple scholars have provided proof that the tradition of offering rasgulla as bh...