The earliest evidence of rasagola can be found in the epic poem Dandi Ramayana which was composed by famous Odia poet Balarama Dasa in which he mentioned that rasagola is offered to Maa Laxmi by Lord Jagannath in a ritual called Niladri Bije.[1][2][3][4][5]

While it is near-universally agreed upon that the dessert originated in the eastern Indian subcontinent, the exact locus of origin is disputed between locations such as West Bengal,[6][7] Bangladesh,[8] and Odisha,[9] where it is offered at the Puri Jagannath Temple.[10]

In 2016, the West Bengal government applied for a geographical indication (GI) tag for the variant called "Banglar rosogolla" (Bengali rasgulla) clarifying that the Bengal and Odisha variants were different in "both in colour, texture, taste, juice content and method of manufacturing."[11]

In 2017, when West Bengal got its rosogolla's Geographical indication status, the Registry office of India clarified that West Bengal was given GI status for Banglar rosogolla and Odisha can claim it too if they cite the place of origin of their variant along with colour, texture, taste, juice content and method of manufacturing.[12][13] Thus, in 2018, the government of Odisha applied for GI status for "Odisha Rasagola" (Odia Rasagola), which was approved by GI Registry of India and on July 29, 2019.[14][15][16]