Games and Sports in India
Next to eating, the most important thing in the life of the children is play. Children are the same everywhere in the world. If they can play, they will not…
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
“Games and Sports” from When I Was A Boy In India by Satyananda Roy, 1923
Next to eating, the most important thing in the life of the children is play. Children are the same everywhere in the world. If they can play, they will not go to school. Some of them will even forget all about their meals. When I was a boy I often played most of the games which boys love to play in our part of India. During my high-school days I took prominent part in sports. I was secretary of the football club of my class and often acted as umpire.
While very young we played the game of “hide-and-seek” in the school as well as in our homes. Boys and girls played this game as it is played all the world over. As I was younger than most of my friends, in some games they used to treat me as what they called “bélé khelā” or an extra minor, i. e., not a full-fledged member of the party. I did not like the idea, but I had to submit to age, which counts a great deal in India.
The most popular game played, not only by boys and girls but even by grown up men, is known as Ha-do-do, Kapati, Kit-kit, Chel-digle, and a few other names. It is played in a large rectangular court (either indoor or outdoor), between two parties consisting of three or more players on each side. The court is divided at the middle by a line which forms the base.
The rules of Ha-do-do or Kapati are very simple. The two parties take turns in sending one of their members to the opposite court. The game consists of attack by a single member and defence by the entire party attacked. The attacking player goes to the base, takes a deep breath, and slowly enters the court of the rival party. He makes a sound like “ha-do-do,” “kapati,” “kit-kit,” “chel-digle,” or “choo,” in order to prove that he is holding his breath. When he enters the opponent’s court, he waves his hand with a view to touch or strike as many members as he can. The players whom he touches are considered “dead,” and retire for the rest of the game. All this time, he will have to hold his breath. If he loses it, he will become a dead member and retire. On the other hand, if the party attacked, or any member can get hold of him securely inside their court so that he is unable to reach the base or touch it by extending his hands or feet, he is “dead” and is retired for the rest of the game.
In this way the attack and defence continue during the course of the game. When an attacking member tries to get back to his home court or reach the base lying down with his fingers or toes extended the real struggle begins. This is an exciting but inexpensive national game. When it is played in some of our public parks no admission is charged. On some occasions I noticed that spectators became so excited that instead of cheering, they entered the courts and joined the game.
Another game called guli dāndā or ball and bat is played with two pieces of sticks, one long and the other very short. The longer one, about thirty-five inches in length, is the dāndā and serves as a bat, while the shorter one, about five or six inches long, called guli, serves as a ball. It can be played with two or more players. The game starts from a base. As soon as the ball is struck it flies high up and returns to the ground. The distance from the base is measured by the length of the bat, which determines the score in the game. He who completes the highest number of points,—say fifty to one hundred—retires from the game as victorious.
The one who scores the smallest number of points is the defeated player. His score is usually subtracted from the victor’s and he has to serve his victor at least the same number of points by which he has been defeated. That part of the game is called “slaving,” for the defeated party has to run every time the ball flies up and bring it back to the victor at the base. There is not much pleasure either in “slaving” or making others “ slave,” as it is usually done in this game. I remember many occasions when the victor would drop this part entirely out of the game.
Besides these games there are a few more called “Thief! Thief!”, “Land and Water,” and “Blind man-bee.” The last one when played is always accompanied by the cry “Touch, touch, blind bee, touch me quick, if you can touch me at all!”
There are numerous wishing games played with seeds of fruits and vegetables. But these are all indoor games. One very interesting game called “Golakdhām” or “Journey to Heaven” has a very ancient origin. It is played on a printed chart with squares full of pictures of man’s life on earth beginning with home, farm, workshop, school, temple, saloon, prison, etc. The idea is simple. If one’s dice (in the shape of small shells) when cast take him to a bad place, he immediately goes down and begins all over again. For example, if one enters the saloon or the prison, he will have to go back and begin life again. In this way one is prevented from making a continuous journey toward “heaven.” To me it appeared to be an instructive game which impresses on the minds of the players the good and the bad side of life with their consequences.
Football, which is not so expensive as the other foreign games, can claim more players among schoolboys than any other game. The football which is played in India is what is known as “soccer” in the United States and “Association” in England as distinguished from “Rugby.”
“Association” football or “Soccer” football has become very popular, even in the country districts. Hockey and polo are also played, the former by boys, and the latter by rich people. Polo originated in India several centuries ago, during the rule of the Hindu kings.
In my school days I played marbles, especially in winter. I was never good at playing wooden tops, though I remember that the courtyard of our school did not have any space left for any other game than tops during part of the winter. In all our games, whenever we wanted to find out the one with whom the game was to begin we recited a couplet like the “Eeny, meeny, miny, mo” in the United States: “Ram dui, Sure tin—Ghorar dim.” When translated into English it reads thus: “One, two, three and half, what do I care for horse’s egg? ”
During the football season in Calcutta, many games are played in the large open space near Fort William known as the Maidan (which literally means “meadow”. The city of Calcutta has the Maidan where more than twenty sporting clubs have their playgrounds. As football is more spectacular than cricket, it attracts more people. Shields, cups, and medals are offered to various clubs in connection with contested games. Sometimes more than one hundred thousand people gather round the field to watch a game. Admissions are charged for most of these games. The Indian Football Association of Calcutta supports some of the local charities out of the proceeds of the admission tickets. A healthful spirit of competition is created through these games. Almost every school and college in Calcutta has its football club.
In recent years the Y. M. C. A., through its college and boys’ branches, has helped much in popularizing American games, like basketball, volley ball, etc. Swimming is another sport in which boys and girls in the country excel. Walking and running trips covering long distances are undertaken by the boys. Opportunities for swimming in town as well as in the country are many. Girls learn to swim by resting on earthen or brass kalsi (water vessels) .
Wrestling is one of the most favored sports. One of my classmates has become a champion wrestler and has been doing very well in most of his encounters. Several years ago stick-and-sword playing was very popular among boys and young men. They learned those arts in Indian gymnasiums, all of which have been closed by orders of the government. The closing put a stop to the physical education of a great many boys who needed it very badly. The government feared that boys trained in the arts of playing stick-and-sword might start a rebellion. Consequently not only the carrying of arms but even of long and heavy sticks was prohibited.
Flying paper kites is a very interesting game. In the course of such flying, two or three fliers may engage in a fight with their kites. They try to cut across the thread of their rivals by skillful manipulation of the thread in a crisscross way. They keep their thread in a reel made of bamboo, with a handle at each end. A great deal of cheering goes on when one succeeds in cutting the thread of his rival’s kite. Sometimes boys fly their kites on the flat and unprotected roofs of their houses in Calcutta. They become so absorbed in their kites and the contest that they forget all about the dangers which may befall them if they slip. Every year a few accidents occur in Calcutta, in which boys sustain slight or heavy injuries by falling headlong from the roofs of their homes to the street or courtyard. The thread used in flying kites is carefully reinforced with a special preparation of a paste from rice, and ground glass and mica. Sometimes boys dye the thread with different-colored dyes. The kites are usually made of very thin paper of all kinds of colors and sizes.
Roy, Satyananda. When I Was A Boy In India. Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., 1923.
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