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Traditional games of South Asia

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A tackle occurring in kabaddi, South Asia's most professionally played traditional game.

South Asia has many traditional games and sports.[1] Two of them, kabaddi and kho-kho, are played at the South Asian Games, with kabaddi also featuring at the Asian Games.[2] Many of these games are played across the entire subcontinent under different names and with some rule variations, while some of these games may be played only in certain countries or regions.

History

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Ancient era

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See also: South Asian physical culture § History

Some traditional South Asian games, such as kabaddi, kho-kho, and atya-patya, are believed to be thousands of years old, finding mention in historical scriptures[3] and dating back to ancient India.[4][5][6] Kho-kho, for example, dates back to at least the fourth century BC.[7] Many South Asian games likely reflect characteristics of traditional life in the subcontinent; for example, the Bengali hopscotch game of ekka-dokka (related to Stapoo and Chindro) may reflect the concepts of land division and ownership of property in ancient times.[8]

Modern era

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See also: South Asian sports at the 1936 Summer Olympics
India vs Iran at the 2023 Asian Kho Kho Championship. Kho kho is South Asia's second-most popular tag game.

After the British colonisation of the subcontinent which peaked from the 19th century to 1947, Western sports such as cricket, football, and hockey began to be followed to a greater extent, to the detriment of the traditional games.[9][10] The modern advent of urbanisation,[11] globalisation (which attracted people towards more globally popular games),[12] and technology (which gave people digital forms of entertainment such as the Internet, television, and video games)[13] have further diminished the traditional South Asian sports.[14] Additional reasons include religious extremism in some areas, which has restricted people from playing certain games, and lack of governmental support.[15]

However, some professional leagues are now being started for certain traditional sports, such as the Pro Kabaddi League, Ultimate Kho Kho, and Pro Panja League, which are beginning to revive interest in these sports and even globalise them;[16][17] these leagues are now some of the most-watched competitions in the subcontinent.[18]

Traditional games

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Gillidanda

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Gillidanda or gulli danda is a game where players attempt to hit a stick as far as possible to score points. It has similarities to the popular South Asian sport of cricket, as well as to traditional games around the world, such as tipcat.[19]

Chindro

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The area in which Chindro is played.
This section is an excerpt from Chindro.[edit]
Chindro (also known as Stapoo or Kidi Kada) is a popular game of the Indian Sub-Continent. The game is played with a stone that is tossed and/ or slid on a marked-off playing court. It is similar to hopscotch.

Gutte

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Gutte (similar to Meergati and Bilghotti in Pakistan) involves players throwing up and then grabbing stones on the ground, while ensuring none of the stones falls from the air to the ground.[20][21][22]

Dark room

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Dark room is the same as hide-and-seek, except that it is played in an entirely dark room.[23][24]

Donkey Donkey

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Donkey Donkey (similar to the Pakistani Beech ki Billi)[25] is a game in which two players attempt to throw a ball to each other, while a player in the middle tries to catch it.[26]

Ball games

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Maram pitti

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Maram Pitti (similar to Pakistan's Maran Kuttai)[25] is similar to dodgeball.[27]

Seven stones

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In the game of seven stones (known by several other names in various regions), one team throws a ball at a pile of stones and then attempts to rebuild the pile, while the other team tries to eliminate the first team's players by throwing the ball at them.[28][29]

Variations of tag

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See also: Variations of tag

Deciding who the denner is

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In many South Asian variations of tag, the player meant to tag the other players is known as the "denner".[30][31] There are various ways of selecting the denner, such as Saa Boo Three (also known as pugam pugai), in which a group of three players face one of their hands up or down, and if one of the players faces their hand the opposite way of the other two, then they are chosen as the denner.[32][33]

Kabaddi

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This section is an excerpt from Kabaddi.[edit]
Kabaddi being played at the 2018 Asian Games
Kabaddi (/kəˈbædi/,[34] /ˈkʌbədi/)[35] is a contact team sport played between two teams of seven players, originating in ancient India.[36] The objective of the game is for a single player on offense, referred to as a "raider", to run into the opposing team's half of the court, touch out as many of their players as possible, and return to their own half of the court, all without being tackled by the defenders in 30 seconds. Points are scored for each player tagged by the raider, while the opposing team earns a point for stopping the raider. Players are taken out of the game if they are touched or tackled, but return to the game after each point scored by their team from a tag or tackle.

Kho-kho

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This section is an excerpt from Kho kho.[edit]
Kho kho game in progress at a government school in Haryana, India
Kho kho is a traditional South Asian sport that dates to ancient India.[37][38] It is the second-most popular traditional tag game in the Indian subcontinent after kabaddi.[39] Kho kho is played on a rectangular court with a central lane connecting two poles which are at either end of the court. During the game, nine players from the chasing team (attacking team) are on the field, with eight of them sitting (crouched) in the central lane, while three runners from the defending team run around the court and try to avoid being touched.[38] Each sitting player on the chasing team faces the opposite half of the field that their adjacent teammates are facing.

Freeze tag

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Freeze tag (also known as Baraf Paani in North-India and Pakistan, and as Borof Paani in Bangladesh) involves players becoming "frozen" in place when tagged by an opponent, but becoming unfrozen when tagged by a teammate.[40][41]

Atya-patya

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This section is an excerpt from Atya patya.[edit]
External videos
video icon Maharashtra – 27th Senior National Championship, August 2012,, Tamil Nadu semi-final match in YouTube video
video icon Senior National Atya Patya Championship, Hyderabad 2012, final: Puducherry v/s Maharashtra, YouTube video
Atya patya (Hindi: आट्यापाट्या) is a traditional South Asian tag sport played by two sides of nine players. It is more popular in rural areas of India. It is more commonly played in Maharashtra, a western Indian state.[42] Atya patya is described as a "game of feints".[43] The playing area comprises nine trenches, coming out of either side of a central trench; a point is awarded to the attacking team's players for each trench they cross without being tagged out by the defensive players within the trenches.[44] The game ends after 4 innings (scoring turns) of 7 minutes each, with each team having two innings to score. It has been described as a game of "militant chase".[45] The sport is played in a relatively small area and requires no equipment, similar to other games indigenous to India such as kabaddi, seven stones, kho kho, gillidanda and langdi.[43]

Langdi

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This section is an excerpt from Langdi (sport).[edit]
School kids play langdi during a inter-school competition
Langdi[a] is a traditional South Asian field sport which combines elements of tag and hopscotch.[47] It was originally played during the Pandiyan Dynasty and called "Nondiyaattam" at that time. The teams alternate chasing (attacking) and defending roles in each of the 4 innings of the game, with the chasing team's players restricted to hopping around on one foot, and attempting to score points by tagging as many defenders as possible within the 9 minutes of each inning. It is described by Marathis as a sport with a Marathi ethos.[48]

Aankh micholi

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Aankh micholi (similar to Bangladesh's Kanamachi) is a form of blindfolded tag.[20][49]

Kokla chappaki

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This game (similar to Rumal Chor and Bengal's Rumal Churi) is similar to duck, duck, goose.[50][51][52][53]

Oonch Neech

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See also: River or mountain (game)
This section is an excerpt from Oonch Neech.[edit]
Oonch Neech (or Oonch Neech ka Papada) is a rural and urban street children's game and variation of Tag game played in North India and Pakistan. Oonch Neech (Hindi) translates Up and Down in English.

Board games

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Snakes and ladders

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This section is an excerpt from Snakes and ladders.[edit]
Snakes and ladders is a board game for two or more players regarded today as a worldwide classic. The game originated in ancient India invented by saint Dnyaneshwar as Moksha Patam, and was brought to the United Kingdom in the 1890s. It is played on a game board with numbered, gridded squares. A number of "ladders" and "snakes" are pictured on the board, each connecting two specific board squares. The object of the game is to navigate one's game piece, according to die rolls, from the start (bottom square) to the finish (top square), helped by climbing ladders but hindered by falling down snakes.

Another traditional game called Ludo, is mostly played at the same board on the other side. Four participants can play this game with the help of dice.

Carrom

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This section is an excerpt from Carrom.[edit]
Tibetans playing carrom in Delhi
Carrom is a tabletop game of Indian origin in which players flick discs, attempting to knock them to the corners of the board. In South Asia, many clubs and cafés hold regular tournaments. Carrom is commonly played by families, including children, and at social functions. Different standards and rules exist in different areas.

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ (Hindi: लंगड़ी) Also sometimes spelled Langadi.[46]

References

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  1. ^ "Scouts - 13 games to celebrate South Asian Heritage Month". www.scouts.org.uk. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  2. ^ "OCA » Ancient tag game of kho kho catching on fast". oca.asia. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
  3. ^ Jacob, Megha; Nandini, Brij; Sharma, Niytanshi (17 July 2023). "Indigenous Sports of India: Connecting Past to the Present". Artha Journal of Social Sciences. 22 (1): 1–23. doi:10.12724/ajss.64.1. ISSN 0000-0000.
  4. ^ Kabaddi: How to play India’s 4000-year-old indigenous sport Olympics.com
  5. ^ Kho Kho, a kabaddi-like sport linked with Indian epic Mahabharata – know all about it Olympics.com
  6. ^ Arasu, S. T. (4 July 2020). "Galah Panjang and its Indian roots". On the sport. Be part of it. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  7. ^ "The Evolution Of Kho Kho Mats In India: A Historical Overview". English Jagran. 30 May 2023. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  8. ^ A Historical Study of the Origin and Features of Some Selected Folk Games in North Bengal Badal Roy https://ir.nbu.ac.in/
  9. ^ Vaczi, Mariann; Bairner, Alan (6 October 2023). Indigenous, Traditional, and Folk Sports: Contesting Modernities. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-000-98328-9.
  10. ^ Disappearance of Traditional games by the imitation of Colonial Culture through the Historical parameters of Cultural Colonialism Md Abu Nasim https://dergipark.org.tr/
  11. ^ Games and Sports in West Bengal under Global Urbanization: An Ethnographic Approach Dr. Abhijit Das http://www.ijhssi.org/
  12. ^ Bengal Traditional Games and Sports Culture Around in Twentieth-Century North Bengal Badal Roy & Dr. Sudash Lamahttps://ir.nbu.ac.in/
  13. ^ Pant, Charu (16 August 2015). "Five Indian Origin Games on the verge of extinction – Sports". Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  14. ^ TRADITIONAL GAMES AND SPORTS Siben Paul http://oldror.lbp.world/
  15. ^ Folk Games Dying in Pashtun Belt: A Combination of Religious Extremism Confining Girls to Their Homes and Urbanisation Providing New Options nayadaur.tv
  16. ^ India's defeat reflects Kabaddi's globalisation: Coach Reddy https://www.business-standard.com/
  17. ^ "Format, game tweaks have helped draw fans on TV: Ultimate kho kho CEO". Hindustan Times. 3 September 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  18. ^ Taneja, Nidhima (27 January 2023). "Pro kabaddi, kho-kho leagues chase IPL viewership. India rediscovering regional sports". ThePrint. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  19. ^ "Gilli Danda or Guli Dunda (India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan, Pakistan) – Traditional Sports". www.traditionalsports.org. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  20. ^ a b Kazi, Saad (14 June 2018). "Top 24 Most Popular Traditional Indian Games Gen Z Must Try". Voice of Indian Sports – KreedOn. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  21. ^ Folk Games Dying in Pashtun Belt: A Combination of Religious Extremism Confining Girls to Their Homes and Urbanisation Providing New Options
  22. ^ "Imaginative games: Cheap shot". The Express Tribune. 25 August 2013. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  23. ^ "If These 27 Childhood Games Were In The Olympics, We'd All Win Gold". ScoopWhoop. 24 October 2016. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
  24. ^ "11 childhood games today's kids are unlikely to play". The Express Tribune. 11 March 2015. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
  25. ^ a b Cheema, Minahil (2 August 2015). "15 of the Greatest Games All Pakistanis Grew Up Playing". MangoBaaz. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
  26. ^ Agarwal, Stuti. "The games we played – Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
  27. ^ Wilben Albert, Renin. "IPL 2021: [Watch] KKR players have a ball while enjoying a game of 'Maram Pitti'". www.sportskeeda.com. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
  28. ^ Enos, Jayaseelan (14 August 2012). "Seven Stones: A Traditional Game in India". Compassion International Blog. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  29. ^ "Traditional Games of Pakistan – Muhammad Awais – Youlin Magazine". www.youlinmagazine.com. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  30. ^ "Lock and Key to Pittu: 13 outdoor games every 90s kid would remember". InUth. 6 September 2017. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
  31. ^ AK, Ananya (10 August 2018). "10 Games You Played If You Were Born In The 90s India". Campus Times Pune. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  32. ^ Gosain, Srishti (10 March 2016). "12 Games Every 90s Kid Played And We Miss These". LifeCrust. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  33. ^ "Bandar Qilla (Baander killa) - Dost Pakistan". Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  34. ^ Wells, John C. (2008). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.). Longman. ISBN 978-1-4058-8118-0.
  35. ^ kabaddi Cambridge Dictionary
  36. ^ Sudevan, Praveen (27 October 2022). "How Pro Kabaddi made kabaddi the most-watched sport in India after cricket". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
  37. ^ Hard Bound Lab Manual Health and Physical Education, p. 41
  38. ^ a b "kho-kho | Indian sport | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  39. ^ Peter A Hastie (2010). Student-Designed Games: Strategies for Promoting Creativity, Cooperation, and Skill Development. Human Kinetics. p. 52. ISBN 978-0-7360-8590-8.
  40. ^ "11 childhood games today's kids are unlikely to play". The Express Tribune. 11 March 2015. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  41. ^ Bin Iqbal, Faisal (31 January 2019). "CHIGALYMPICS". The Daily Star. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  42. ^ S.R.Tiwari (2006). History of Physical Education. APH Publishing. p. 200. ISBN 978-81-313-0041-1. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
  43. ^ a b "Games". Gazette. Government of Maharashtra. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
  44. ^ Dale Hoiberg (2000). Students' Britannica India: Select essays. Popular Prakashan. p. 110. ISBN 978-0-85229-762-9. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
  45. ^ Katrin Bromber; Joseph Maguire; Birgit Krawietz (15 February 2013). Sport Across Asia: Politics, Cultures, and Identities. Routledge. p. 135. ISBN 978-0-415-88438-9. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
  46. ^ Chougule, Dr Sushama Narayan (15 April 2021). Contribution of Bombay Physical Culture Association to the Fields of Physical Education, Sports and Allied Disciplines. Lulu Publication. ISBN 978-1-716-20897-3.
  47. ^ Awasthi, Shailendra (1 January 2010). "Now officially a sport, Langdi takes giant leap". Indian Express. Retrieved 9 August 2013.
  48. ^ Vishal Karule. लंगडी निघाली परदेशवारीला!. Zee 24 Taas.
  49. ^ "RisingStars". archive.thedailystar.net. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  50. ^ Sariya, Tasneem (10 February 2021). "Top 10 Traditional Games of India that Defined Childhood for Generations". Caleidoscope. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  51. ^ "Some traditional games of subcontinent that we once loved – Sports – Dunya News". dunyanews.tv. 14 February 2008. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  52. ^ Agarwal, Stuti. "The games we played – Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  53. ^ Traditional Sports and Games Culture Around West Bengal noveltyjournals.com
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