Youngsters forgot all about their video games as they revisited the history of indoor and outdoor games on Kalina University campus
What are rains without some indoors games to play? Mumbaikars did just that and more on a rainy weekend at Kalina University campus, which hosted a fest of ancient games. Youngsters, families and even, game collectors their hand at the numerous indoor and outdoor games on display.
Put together by the faculty and students, Mugdha Karnik, Director, Centre of Extra-Mural Studies at the campus said, “When we held an archaeology exhibition last year, the corner dedicated to ancient games was an all-out hit with the visitors. So, our students decided to organise a festival just around ancient games. With the help from the faculty, they sourced out the games, made prints, laminated them and painted dice out of suparis, made booklets among other things.”
Encouraged by the response, there is a possibility of the University planning more such of weekends of ancient games.
YOUNG AND OLD PLAYED THESE GAMES
At six, Sanvi Name was the youngest participant. Her mother, Monika Name says, “She has been exposed to ancient games at home. We have the game Saanp Seedi, which is known as Mokshapattam and Pallangudi at home. She tried her hand at other games like Pachisi too.” For Gauri Raghavan, 62, it was like revisiting childhood memories as she played Pallangudi. She says, “I have seen my mother and grandmother playing this game at our native place in Tamil Nadu. There is a set at home, which I play with my husband and children.”
College students were busy clicking pictures of the games on display or taking part in it. Three final-year students from Ruia College were there for their project related to ancient games. Says Kartiki Lokhande, “We learned of games like Wagh Bakri, Pallagudi, Chaupar and the variations of ‘Snakes and Ladders’ with its Hindu and Islamic Persian origin, which we were not aware of earlier.” Riddhi Joshi, a college student who volunteered, says, “After playing these traditional games I now realise why my grandparents say that there is no logic to the game we play today. All Indian games have a philosophy behind them. They were intended to equip you with different skills in life and make you intelligent."
Avni Dongaonkar, who was clicking photographs as part of the research, “I hate virtual games and these games have logic to it. It was amazing to realise that they were more challenging than the games we play on the mobile. The kids who are addicted to video games should be introduced to these games.”
SOME OF THESE GAMES ARE POPULAR ABROAD
The exhibition had a visitor from Chennai — Dr Balambal Ramaswamy conducts workshops on these games and has seen its impact on children. “Ancient games acts like therapy for speciallyabled children.
We have tried it and noticed that it improves hand co-ordination in autistic children; it also improves speech. It comes in handy to teach Maths and its many formulas.” Ramaswamy, who has represented India and presented papers on ancient games abroad, adds, “There’s so much to be learned from these games. Parents should teach the importance of these games to the kids and utilise it. Indians have forgotten about Pallangudi, which was a national game, but it is still played in West Indies and Africa.”
GAMES FROM ANOTHER TIME
WAGH BAKRI
Known as Bagh Chal in Nepal, the game is played with three to five ‘tiger’ tokens and 17, 21 or 24 ‘goat’ tokens on boards of stone or cloth. The strategy here involves tigers trying to devour goats that corner them.
GYANACHAUPAN
Popular as ‘Snakes and Ladders’, this game has Jain origins —it was used as a tool to teach people about morality. The snake bites are labelled as sins, while the climb-up symbolised a good deed. The Jain game had 84 squares, possibly echoing the story from the Bhagwad Gita, where Lord Krishna tells Arjuna that the soul must be incarnated in as many as 84 million species before taking birth as a human. The Islamic version and the Christian version of the game was also used to teach religious values. The modern avatar game was ‘de-religionised’ in the West, where the grids gave way to numbers.
PALLANGUDI
Known as Ali Guli Mane in Kannada and Pallangudi in Tamil, this game is traditionally played with tamarind seeds. Inspired by farming, the two sides of a board represent two fields and players must ‘sow’ seeds around the board, dropping them into the pits, one at a time, moving clockwise or counterclockwise. According to Hindu mythology Sita spent her time playing this game while she was held captive in Lanka by Ravan.
ASHTAPADA
Played on a grid with sixty-four squares, this two-to-four player battle-simulation game is played much like Ludo. The board has special marks to denote ‘castles’ at the centre. Each player gets an even number of tokens. These are placed at the centre and must travel around the board to return to the central ‘castle’, first in a clockwise direction, then counter-clockwise.
PACHISI
Also known as Chaupar or Sari Pat, it was a game favoured by Mughal emperor Akbar — a pavilion in his palace in Fatehpur Sikri was designed as Pachisi Court. Ludo is a simplified version of this two-to-four player dice game, which is central to the plot of the Mahabharata.
NAVAKANKARI
This traditional game of Maharashtra is similar to the ‘Nine Men’s Morris’ in Europe, which dates back to the Roman Empire. It is also known as Jodpi Ata in Kannada and Navkakri in Gujarati. A two-player strategy game played on a board that consists of three concentric squares, it is played like ‘tic-tac-toe’.
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