Nobin Chandra Das, the ‘Columbus of rosogolla’

KOLKATA: Nobin Chandra Das invented the sweet in 1868. He was trying to come up with a new sweet for many years... he never thought of trying for a patent for it but taught confectioners how to prepare it.

DHIMAN DAS, great-great grandson

The pristinely white, perfectly spherical, delectably juicy rosogolla is now a legitimate child of Bengal, Geographical Indication (GI) authorities ruled on Tuesday. If anybody could claim fatherhood of the syrupy iconic sweet, it is Nobin Chandra Das (1845-1925), a famous sweetmeat confectioner who is believed to have invented it after a few years of trial.

Das, who came to be addressed as the ‘Columbus of rosogolla’, was a resident of Bagbazar. He grew up at a time popularly known as the Bengal Renaissance, a period when a creative energy in literature, painting, music and the arts marked the state. Down the decades, Bengalis took pride in the sweet. Virtually every dignitary visiting Bengal — from Fidel Castro to Diego Maradona — was offered this signature sweet during state dinners.

“Nobin Chandra invented the sweet in 1868. He was trying to come up with a new sweet for a number of years before he came up with it. He never thought of trying for a patent on the sweet but taught confectioners how to prepare it,” said Dhiman Das, great-great-grandson of Nobin Chandra, and a director of KC Das Pvt Ltd, one of the most famous makers of the iconic sweet.

“The key ingredients are chhana (cottage cheese) made from cow milk, sugar syrup, and a crucial determinant is how long the rosogolla is boiled,” said Dhiman.

Nobin Chandra’s father was a sugar merchant, who died a few months before he was born. The family fell on difficult times and his childhood was spent in poverty. Even his first attempt to set up an outlet at Jorasanko bombed. His second attempt was an outlet on arterial Chitpur Road (now known as Rabindra Sarani), where he struck gold with the rosogolla.

The residence of the Das family on 532 Rabindra Sarani is — no prize for guessing — known as the Rosogolla Bhavan. For years, the family was recognised as the first family of Bengal’s sweetmeat industry mainly due to its claim on the parentage on rosogolla.

Das’s son, Krishna Chandra (1869-1934), expanded the business his father set up. He is credited with the invention of another popular sweet, ‘rosomalai’. Bengalis were quite surprised, if not hurt, in 2015 when the neighbouring state of Odisha suddenly claimed that the sweet was essentially an invention of that state.

In June 2015, when the bitter battle between West Bengal and Odisha started over its origin, the Bengal government, quoting 19th century history, argued that the rosogolla was invented by Das in 1868. But the Odisha government promptly reacted. Odisha minister of science and technology, Pradip Kumar Mohanty, announced setting up committees to trace the origin of the sweetmeat and furnish evidences that it was first prepared around 600 years ago in Puri.

On July 30, 2015, the Odisha government launched a socialmedia campaign, #RasagollaDibasa, to celebrate its origin. An exhibition and awareness event was also organised in Bhubaneswar by confectioners of Odisha.

On September 20, 2015, the Mamata Banerjee administration applied for GI authentication. Last week, Bengal food processing minister, Abdur Rezzak Mollah, told HT they were toying with the idea of getting ready for a legal battle even if the government’s application was turned down.