India has several traditional games and sports, some of which have been played for thousands of years.Kabaddi: How to play India’s 4000-year-old indigenous sport Olympics.com Their popularity has greatly declined in the modern era, with Western sports having overtaken them during the British Raj, and the Indian government now making some efforts to revive them. Many of these games do not require much equipment or playing space. Some of them are only played in certain regions of India, or may be known by different names and played under different rules and regulations in different regions of the country.

History

Ancient era

Kho-kho has been played since at least the fourth century BC. Kabaddi and kho-kho may have had certain aspects of their gameplay mentioned in the Mahabharata, which was written before 300 AD. Atya-patya is mentioned in the Naṟṟiṇai, written in 300 AD or before. Chaturanga is an ancient board game which experienced various modifications as it was transmitted from India toward Europe and became the modern game of chess. Some of these games were used for military training purposes; constant warfare between Indians/against invaders forced an emphasis on physical activities related to fighting. One example of this connection between sports and war was Abhimanyu's piercing of the Chakravyuha as depicted in the Mahabharata, which may have had a connection to the skills used in kabaddi and kho-kho.Nag, Utathya (24 June 2022). "Kho Kho, a kabaddi-like sport linked with Indian epic Mahabharata - know all about it". Olympics.com

Traditional Indian games served various purposes throughout and had various connections to Indian history; for example, certain aspects of the Bengali hopscotch game of ekka-dokka may have represented concepts of social division of property,A Historical Study of the Origin and Features of Some Selected Folk Games in North Bengal Badal Roy https://ir.nbu.ac.in/ kabaddi may have been used as a preparation for hunting, and the Bengali tag game of gollachut may have represented escape attempts by agricultural slaves during the Indus Valley Civilization. Hindu teachings placed emphasis on being physically fit, with the Kshatriya warrior caste in particular having to practice martial activities such as archery, while Buddhist teachings were more mixed; Buddha prohibited some traditional games which were considered to be causing negligence amongst people, though he himself played certain other games, such as archery and kabaddi. Buddhist monks, who generally shunned violence, adopted the use of Indian martial arts to protect themselves. Different activities were interrelated; the breathing aspects of kabaddi had connections with the pranayama breath-control techniques from yoga and the martial art of kalaripayattu was practiced in tandem with atya-patya by soldiers in Kerala. Indo-Muslim era During Mughal rule, some of the traditional games were greatly patronised and played in modified ways; for example, Akbar invented a version of polo which could be played at night by setting the ball on fire, and played a magnified version of pachisi with courtesans acting as the pieces on the board. However, Hindu subjects were discouraged from drinking and playing polo, which were apt to make them unruly and rebellious. Wrestling was popular at the time as well, with Persian and Indian forms of wrestling merging to form pehlwani.

Colonial era

During the time of the British Raj, Indians began to focus more on playing British sports such as cricket, hockey, and football rather than their traditional sports.1. INDIAN COLONIAL EMIGRATION https://www.gandhiashramsevagram.org/ Part of the reason behind this was so that they could rise up the ranks by imitating the culture of the colonisers;Disappearance of Traditional games by the imitation of Colonial Culture through the Historical parameters of Cultural Colonialism Md Abu Nasim https://dergipark.org.tr/ later on, some Indians also started to see British sports as an activity in which they could "beat" their colonisers. The British also at times pushed for the growth of Western physical culture, seeing it as a way to increase the uptake of British culture and values in India, and arguing that Indian men were effeminate and thus needed a more European physical regimen (see Muscular Christianity). This was intertwined with the British promoting the martial race theory, in which the native soldiers that were loyal to the British Empire were seen as brave and well-built for fighting, while the educated dissenters were unfit.

A notable traditional sport which continued to be played during this time was polo, which the British helped to codify and support as an official sport. Some British board games, such as Snakes and Ladders and Ludo, were also inspired by Indian board games.

Some self-funded sports clubs, such as the akharas, vyayamshalas, and kreeda mandals promoted and organized competitions at various levels for traditional games during this time.Strengthen ‘Sport for All Movement’ Through Traditional Sports & Games https://www.ssf.or.jp/ Suresh Deshpande, Sayyad M. Quadri Various traditional games began to be standardized during this period, and some of them were exhibited at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games.How kabaddi went from local to global on the sidelines of the Olympics https://olympics.com/ Utathya Nag

Contemporary era

In post-Independent India, the traditional sports' popularity has greatly declined with the further growth of Western sports and online gaming. Kabaddi is the most popular traditional sport, with the highest viewership and most career opportunities; its growth was spurred on by the creation of the Pro Kabaddi League. Kabaddi's growth has led to it spreading outside of South Asia as well, with countries such as South Korea and Iran playing it. Kho-kho has also had a franchise league started for it, Ultimate Kho Kho; the Pro Kabaddi League and Ultimate Kho Kho are respectively the most and third-most viewed non-cricket competitions in India.

Whereas in the past, traditional Indian games were often played on mud surfaces in rural areas, in the modern day they are often played on matted surfaces with changes to their rule sets and other aspects of their appearance to make them more appealing and exciting. Some traditional games, such as board games and casino card games, are also being digitalised so that they can be played as video games.

Government policy To revive the traditional games, the Indian government started the Bharatiya Khel initiative with the view that these games are more affordable for rural Indians to play, and are important for reviving Indian culture as well as increasing team spirit. Furthermore, in accordance with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, 7th-class textbooks have been issued that include content on traditional games. The government is also planning to introduce games like kabaddi and kho-kho into the Olympics if it wins a bid to host a future Olympic event, such as its current bid for the 2036 Olympics. The Fit India movement has also contributed to the revival of traditional Indian games, with schools required to include such games as part of physical education.

Competitions At the state level, the Chhattisgarhiya Olympics is an annual Chhattisgarhi competition meant for celebrating traditional games; over 3 million people likely participated in the 2023 edition. The Qila Raipur Sports Festival has been celebrating traditional Punjabi sports since 1933.

Governance The Association of Traditional Sports and Games, India (ATSGI) was formed in 2020 with the purpose of revitalizing and fostering traditional games and sports, operating under the guidance of the International Council for Traditional Sports and Games (ICTSG) endorsed by UNESCO. Padi Richo, president of the Arunachal Olympic Association, was unanimously elected as president of the ATSGI, with Aman Kumar Sharma in the position of Secretary-General.

Traditional games

Gilli danda

Gilli danda is similar to many other games around the world, such as the English game of tip-cat, and also has similarities to the British sport of cricket, which is one of the reasons that sport became popular throughout South Asia in the colonial era. It is a game where a player hits a short stick on the ground up into the air using a longer stick held in their hand. They then hit the airborne stick with the hand-held stick again so that it travels as far as possible. If a player on the other team catches the stick before it touches the ground, then the hitter is out (eliminated).

Nondi

Nondi (known by several other regional names) is a game similar to hopscotch. In it, several connected boxes are drawn on the ground, and players throw a rock or similar object onto one of the boxes and then attempt to hop their way to the box the rock landed in.

Ball games

Lagori (Seven stones)

Maram pitti

Ball badminton

Games involving simple objects

Marbles

Some Indian games involving marbles are also known as Kancha/Kanche or Golli Gundu. Several games are played involving players flicking marbles at other marbles, often in order to "capture" as many marbles as possible by the end of the game to win.

Gutte

Variations of tag

There are several Indian variations of the game of tag (sometimes referred to in India as "running and catching" or in Hindi, pakdam pakdai), with kabaddi and kho-kho being the two most popular such games and being played in professional leagues (Pro Kabaddi League and Ultimate Kho Kho respectively).Kabaddi to Gilli Danda to Kho Kho: Traditional games played in India mykhel.com

Deciding who the denner is

In many Indian variations of tag, the player who is supposed to tag the other players is referred to as the "denner". There are a number of ways of determining which player should be the denner; one such method is Saa Boo Three (also known as pugam pugai), in which three players face one of their hands either up or down, and if one of them faces their hand the opposite direction of the other two, then that player is the denner.

Kabaddi

Kho-kho

Langdi

Atya-patya

Chor Police

Oonch Neech

Dog and the bone

In Dog and the Bone (known by various names in India, such as "Cheel Jhapatta", and more commonly in other parts of the world as "steal the bacon"), there is an object placed in the centre of the field, with two teams placed on opposite ends of the field. One player from each team rushes towards the object to try to take it back to their team; a point is scored either if a player successfully retrieves the object, or if a player tags an opponent who is holding the object before the opponent safely makes it back.

River or mountain River or mountain, which is known as Nadi ki Pahad in Hindi, and Nadee-Parvat in Marathi and other regional languages, is a game where the field is divided into areas referred to as "rivers" and "mountains". At the start of play, the denner shouts out either "river" or "mountain", with all players then attempting to go to the areas referred to by the denner. While outside of those areas, the players can be tagged and eliminated by the denner.

Surr

Saakli (Chain tag) Chain tag involves the denner tagging other players, who are then required to form a chain with the denner by holding hands. Only the two players at either end of the chain can tag the remaining players (since they have a free hand not trapped in the chain.) The game ends once all players are part of the chain.

Lock and key Also known as Vish-Amrit/Vish-Amrut (Poison-Antidote), lock and key is similar to the Western game of freeze tag, in which the denner(s) can "freeze" opponents by tagging them, with the frozen players' teammates able to "unfreeze" them by tagging them. A unique feature of lock and key is that players may be required to shout out "lock" or "key", as appropriate, when tagging other players.

Aankh micholi