India is said to be the part of most ancient civilization . People here use to entairtain themselves playing different games .India has a set of its own games for different people …
Much earlier possibly ,people played marbles ,with small balls made out of clay and out of real marble.Again we don’t know rules .but probably one version where you take tossing the marble at a goal and another where you take turn shooting the marble within a circle drawn in the dirt,trying to get them out of the circle. Another type of game was played with wooden hoops and sticks,either tossing the hoop up in the air or rolling the hoop along the ground pushing it with the stick .
Games like chess snake and ladder ,playing cards and polo had originated in India.chess originated in ancient India and was known as CHATUR-ANGA meaning four bodied.from this name we have its current name SHATRANJ.The Mahabharata story throw light on the fact that game similar to chess was played in ancient India dated around 800 and 1100 BC.
The game of playing cards was also one of the favorite pastime of Indians in ancient times .this game was patronized especially by the royalty and nobility .In ancient time the card game was known as KRIDAPATRAM and in middle ages it was known as GANJIFA.Cards were called KRIDA PATRAM were made of cloth and depicted motifs from Ramayana and Mahabharata etc.
Ancient India claims to have been the origin of Judo and Karate something similar to Karate was called KALARIPAYATE.This art form seem to have traveled from India to countries of far east with Buddhist religion .Unlike Judo karate Kalaripayate do not allow the use of lethal weapons.
Women also excelled in sports and art of self defence ,and were active in games like cock fighting and quail fighting .With the flowering of Buddhism in India archery ,Chariot racing ,and hammer throwing got popular .In Villas Manjri Tiruvedacharya described many of these games in detail.
So we should be proud to accept our own games and spread them thru generations….
