WE OFTEN hear ourselves complaining our country’s present sports condition. We often see ourselves cribbing about corruption, no funds, lack of audience, no sporting spirit for the national game, Cricket being the most popular game etc.
For so many years, we are just adding up to that list which has portrayed our country’s image in a bad shape to the rest of the world. We know what things India’s present constitutes; but we forget what enormous contributions India’s history has given to the rest of the world, which formed the basis of our present. Let’s open doors to some of the peculiar inventions of games whose roots belong to our country; and constitutes today’s most famous and most played sports and games around the world.
Have you ever wondered who invented this mind twisting game of chess? This game was evolved by Indian mathematician hundreds and hundreds of years ago.
Snakes and Ladders originated in India as a game based on morality called Vaikuntapaali or Paramapada Sopanam (the ladder to salvation). This game made its way to England and was eventually introduced in the United States of America by Milton Bradley.
This game was played widely in ancient India the name of Moksha Patamu, the earliest known Jain version Gyanbazi dating back to 16th century. The ladders represented virtues such as generosity, faith, humility, etc, and the snakes represented vices such as lust, anger, murder, theft, etc. The moral of the game was that a person can attain salvation (Moksha) performing good deeds whereas by doing evil one takes rebirth in lower forms of life (Patamu).
The popular game of cards originated in ancient India and was known as Krida-patram.This game was patronised especially by the royalty and nobility. In medieval India, playing cards was known as Ganjifa cards which were played in practically all royal courts. This game is recorded to have been played in Rajputana, Kashyapa Meru (Kashmir), Utkala (Orissa) the Deccan and even in Nepal. The Mughals also patronised this game, but the Mughal card-sets differed from those of the ancient Indian royal courts.
The dice is attributed to India by some accounts. The oblong or cubical dice (ak?a) is the precursor of the more primitive vibh??aka—small, hard nuts drawn randomly to obtain factors of a certain integer. Dices are believed to have later spread westwards to Persia, influencing Persian board games.
Athletic games were also popular in ancient India. Wrestling matches, as in West Asia, were very common. Camel racing and boat races were also common.
Kalari is considered to be the most complete and scientific martial art and is the mother of all martial arts. Bodhidharma, a Buddhist monk from India, introduced Kalari into China and Japan in the 5th century.Thus Judo, Karate, Kung Fu and other similar marshal arts which are today identified with the far-east actually originated from India. The list of India’s achievements also goes on.
"So, What makes a nation, is the past, what justifies one nation against others is the past", says the noted historian Eric Horsham. Hence, when talking of a nation, it becomes very imperative that the past should also be talked about. And the past of India is as fascinating and interesting as it is momentous.
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