The National Game Of India Still Lives On
My memories of playing homemade games is still so fresh that I feel as if I am still tucked away in the loving folds of my grandmother and sitting on her lap - playing the Chowkka-baara as we used to call it during my childhood days spent in Delhi. I am sure many one of us would have played such traditional games in our childhood which was taught to us by our grandparents.
Nowadays such games have unfortunately disappeared due to the advent of various plastic toys and games, a lot of which are also cheap and harmful. This has also killed social interactions and the sharing of traditional knowledge between grandparents and grandchildren.
This Chowka-baara as we used to call or Pacchisi [cross and circle board game] or Pagadi or Pagade or the 'National Game of India' as described today - has an ancient origin and is said to have originated from the days of Mahabharata, if we take this as a historical record. In medieval India too, this was a popular game and played by royal families as also the people.
Many ancient books and Puranas have detailed information about this game when Pandava King Yudishtra lost his kingdom, wife and his brothers in a game of dice with Prince Duryodhana of Hastinapur. Apart from this, some temple carvings has visualized the dice being played but not the playing mat. Historical evidence of this game being played by the Mughal kings can be seen in many of the monuments like Fatehpur Sikri.
Coming back to my granny, she introduced me to a host of traditional games and the list is pretty long and interesting. They were usually played with locally available eco-friendly material while the national game was played with cowrie shells or wooden or stone dice with wooden beehive shaped red, green, yellow, blue pawns that were positioned and moved on beautifully woven, cross shaped cotton mats. An exciting skill based and intelligent game, the movement of the pawns is determined by the throw of dice. Each set has four colored pawns that are crafted and shaped in wood and then painted.
My dear old - toothless and rolly polly granny Shankaramma was a mastermind for discovering and introducing us to new and newer games as during those days not much [except for ludo, snake & ladder and trade] was available in the market. In fact, traditional game mats, wooden boxes with holes/shells and sets that were lovingly stitched and embroidered and carved was passed on from one generation to another in many families.
Kasturi Bai's Heritage
Now in one such family - Manjunath Nayak who hails from Gadag – his mother Kasturi Bai has lovingly preserved and continued the Pagadi tradition even after marriage. She has preserved two Pagadi mats. One is a big beautifully crafted mat that is played with 25 pawns and another one is a small mat played with 9 pawns only. This can be seen in the pictures here.
Manjunath recalls, "My maternal grandfather Shivappa B Nellur was a freedom fighter as also an ace Pagadi player and they used to play on the mat displayed here. He had met Mahatma Gandhi twice when he had come to Belgavi He was jailed by the British three times and lodged in Belgavi’s Hindalga Jail."
The two beautiful mats that have been preserved for so many years were knitted by Gangamma Ajji, his grandfather’s aunt when she was just 14. Now the age of both Pagadi Hasangi is 165+ years as per Kasturi Bai's records.
Relating the events Manjunath informs, "My late Grandpa used to play Pagadi only on special occasions like Deepavali, Ugadi, etc with his friends only. They played this game more for communal harmony than as any form of entertainment."
However, the centuries old mats have been preserved well. The Khadi mat is woven with small glass beads in different colors with none of the colors having faded even after one and a half centuries. This is all due to Kasturi Bai who used to keep these mats safely in a Sandook (a wooden big box to keep precious things). The mat is opened once a year only for Deepavali. She carefully cleans the mat, pawns and dice and then locks it up in the Sandook till the next Deepavali.
"Earlier, there were no TV channels nor Internet connection and the only form of entertainment and source of information was Radio and newspapers. Every Deepavali, Grandpa used to take me along with him and I used to watch this game out of curiosity only. He was very orthodox, traditional and disciplined. He used to tell us stories of the freedom movement as also Ramayana, Mahabharat and other stories from the Panchatantra and Puranas," recalls Manjunath.
However, those days are gone but the national game and many such traditional games of India are being made by local craft companies and they are aesthetically made and sometimes designed on Kalamkari or Madhubani printed canvas while the pawns are crafted by the famous Channapatna artisans. They are available online as well as in many retail shops across the metropolitan cities of India.
Image Credits: Manjunath Nayak
My memories of playing homemade games is still so fresh that I feel as if I am still tucked away in the loving folds of my grandmother and sitting on her lap - playing the Chowkka-baara as we used to call it during my childhood days spent in Delhi. I am sure many one of us would have played such traditional games in our childhood which was taught to us by our grandparents.
 |
| Pacchisi mat and coins |
Nowadays such games have unfortunately disappeared due to the advent of various plastic toys and games, a lot of which are also cheap and harmful. This has also killed social interactions and the sharing of traditional knowledge between grandparents and grandchildren.
This Chowka-baara as we used to call or Pacchisi [cross and circle board game] or Pagadi or Pagade or the 'National Game of India' as described today - has an ancient origin and is said to have originated from the days of Mahabharata, if we take this as a historical record. In medieval India too, this was a popular game and played by royal families as also the people.
Many ancient books and Puranas have detailed information about this game when Pandava King Yudishtra lost his kingdom, wife and his brothers in a game of dice with Prince Duryodhana of Hastinapur. Apart from this, some temple carvings has visualized the dice being played but not the playing mat. Historical evidence of this game being played by the Mughal kings can be seen in many of the monuments like Fatehpur Sikri.
 |
| Pacchisi coins |
Coming back to my granny, she introduced me to a host of traditional games and the list is pretty long and interesting. They were usually played with locally available eco-friendly material while the national game was played with cowrie shells or wooden or stone dice with wooden beehive shaped red, green, yellow, blue pawns that were positioned and moved on beautifully woven, cross shaped cotton mats. An exciting skill based and intelligent game, the movement of the pawns is determined by the throw of dice. Each set has four colored pawns that are crafted and shaped in wood and then painted.
My dear old - toothless and rolly polly granny Shankaramma was a mastermind for discovering and introducing us to new and newer games as during those days not much [except for ludo, snake & ladder and trade] was available in the market. In fact, traditional game mats, wooden boxes with holes/shells and sets that were lovingly stitched and embroidered and carved was passed on from one generation to another in many families.
Kasturi Bai's Heritage
Now in one such family - Manjunath Nayak who hails from Gadag – his mother Kasturi Bai has lovingly preserved and continued the Pagadi tradition even after marriage. She has preserved two Pagadi mats. One is a big beautifully crafted mat that is played with 25 pawns and another one is a small mat played with 9 pawns only. This can be seen in the pictures here.
 |
| Pacchisi mat and coins |
Manjunath recalls, "My maternal grandfather Shivappa B Nellur was a freedom fighter as also an ace Pagadi player and they used to play on the mat displayed here. He had met Mahatma Gandhi twice when he had come to Belgavi He was jailed by the British three times and lodged in Belgavi’s Hindalga Jail."
Relating the events Manjunath informs, "My late Grandpa used to play Pagadi only on special occasions like Deepavali, Ugadi, etc with his friends only. They played this game more for communal harmony than as any form of entertainment."
 |
| Pacchisi coins |
However, the centuries old mats have been preserved well. The Khadi mat is woven with small glass beads in different colors with none of the colors having faded even after one and a half centuries. This is all due to Kasturi Bai who used to keep these mats safely in a Sandook (a wooden big box to keep precious things). The mat is opened once a year only for Deepavali. She carefully cleans the mat, pawns and dice and then locks it up in the Sandook till the next Deepavali.
"Earlier, there were no TV channels nor Internet connection and the only form of entertainment and source of information was Radio and newspapers. Every Deepavali, Grandpa used to take me along with him and I used to watch this game out of curiosity only. He was very orthodox, traditional and disciplined. He used to tell us stories of the freedom movement as also Ramayana, Mahabharat and other stories from the Panchatantra and Puranas," recalls Manjunath.
However, those days are gone but the national game and many such traditional games of India are being made by local craft companies and they are aesthetically made and sometimes designed on Kalamkari or Madhubani printed canvas while the pawns are crafted by the famous Channapatna artisans. They are available online as well as in many retail shops across the metropolitan cities of India.
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