Stugazine

People from different regions all over the world who are divided by linguistic basis are well-versed in their own languages. If a competition is held on the literature of a particular language, then obviously the people who have originated from that linguistic area will have the highest probability of winning. This is a fact that the world agrees. Now replace the language with western culture. We people who belong to and practice a particular culture are well-versed in the rituals, rules, methods, the games played, etc that belong to our culture.. In a country such as India where the inner strength and pursuit of even a single woman can destroy the entire city such as in the case of Kannagi as told in Silappathigaram or the monkey Hanuman who destroyed entire Lanka as told in Ramayana, you might think how the western can spread their in-fluence in any way. But after the repeated exploitation of our culture and values by the Mughals and Sultans we were easily given to the Whites. And till today we are under the hold of the idea that any-thing that comes from the West is to be revered and anything that comes from our land has to be treat-ed as a joke. This attitude has to be changed not only because the western culture does not come naturally for us but also because our culture concentrates on the true and inner happiness of people too apart from the material development that we can get. In this article, let us concentrate on the games that have emerged from our land that had been the soul of the children and even the adults and most importantly the elders . But now it weeps like a King forced to give up his post by his own people even if he served his people to the core and there was no mistake on his part but had just been forgotten by the so called new generation. Now we have plenty of games that can be played using gadgets. Addiction on these games just make us forget our problems for a while, it is a way of escapism. We are relieved from stress only when we overcome the problem that we have faced. Our traditional games make us happy and helps our inner self to shine leading to a one-directional thinking. Let’s look at some of the games of our land that we have forgotten eventually.

Ammanai

“Ammanai” is a game where a trio of women sings on some common message or their desire such as the king’s fame and the grace of the Lord in order  to reach them.

Three women carry amulets in this game. First, one of the girls share an information about the king or the Lord, tosses her amulet and says, ‘Ammanai’. The second asks a question related to the information shared, tosses her amulet and says, ‘Ammanai’. The third girl answers the question asked, tosses her amulet and says, ‘Ammanai’. This is the method of playing ‘Ammanai’. For example, we take the song of Pillai Perumal Iyengar that describes an Ammanai game played by 3 women.

The first  woman sings

meaning Thiruvaranganathar, who is surround-ed by gardens full of beetles, is omnipresent and so is everything that we see and feel but is neither male nor female and not even trans-gender.

The second woman sings

meaning If Thiruvaranganathar is neither male nor female and not even transgender, how did he marry Sita?

The third woman sings

meaning Sita was married by Ranganatha only due to a curse due to Bhrigumuni. This game has its oldest mention in Silappatikaram. People can improve their knowledge, language skills and rational thinking through this game. This game has its oldest mention in Silappatikaram. People can improve their knowledge, language skills and rational thinking through this game.

Paramapadam

This game had its origin in India and was known as Moksha Patam, Parama Padam and Mokshapat. The British renamed it as Snakes and Ladders. The game was played with cowrie shells and dices. There are a hundred squares on the board, where the ladders take you up and the snakes bring you down. The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices. The top of the ladder depicts a God, or one of the various heavens (Kailasa, Vaikuntha, Brahmaloka) and so on, while the bottom describes good qualities. Conversely, each snake’s head is a negative qual-ity or an asura (demon). Interspersed are plants, people and animals.Good deeds take us to heav-en & evil takes us through a cycle of re-births. The final goal leads to Vaikuntha (heaven) which is depicted by Vishnu who is surrounded by his devotees or Kailasa with Shiva, Parvati, Ganesha and Skanda with their devotees. In the present age of moral and ethical degeneration, this game would prove to be a brilliant way to instill values in children who are way too exposed to the high-ly influential world. The British took the game to England in 1892, named it Snakes and Ladders and changed it according to the Victorian values.

Jallikattu

Bull Fighting which is also known as Jallikattu, Eruthazhuvuthal or Manju virattu, is a bull taming sport played in Tamil Nadu as a part of Pongal celebrations on Mattu Pongal day. Bulls are bred specifically for the sporting event and a specific breed of cattle bred for this purpose is known as “Jellicut“. Bullfighting was common among the ancient tribes who lived in the ‘Mullai’ geographical division of the ancient Tamil country.

Later, the sport became a platform to display bravery, win prize money and a form of entertainment. The term “Jallikattu” originated from the words “Jalli” and “Kattu“, referring to silver or gold coins tied to the bulls’ horns.

This is an ancient ritual which is required for re-production of bulls and cows. Cattle breeds in India have come down to 28 from about 130 in last 100 years. If we are not engaging with the traditional livestock keeping methods, our native breeds will go extinct.

Pallanguzhi

Pallanguzhi or Pallankuzhi is played on a rec-tangular board with 2 rows and 7 columns. In all there are a total of 14 kuzhis (which in Tamil means holes). 12 seeds go in 6 columns in each row except the middle ones on either sides in which only one seed is placed.. As the game proceeds, each player distributes the counters over all the columns. When they exhaust the number of counters available with them in their hand, they pickup the next counter in the immediate column and disperse the same in the same manner and this continues till the player ends his or her counter just one before the middle ones. At each stage, when a player ends his or her chance and when the column reaches 6 counters, the player whose row that counter faces is allowed to take the six counters (called Pasu in Tamil lan-guage) and place it with them as their reward. If a column is completely empty and a player ends the counters in his or her hand just one before the empty column, he or she can then capture all the counters in the immediate following columns on both the sides of the players. The game ends when one of the players captures all the shells, and is declared as a winner. Once the first round is over players take the counters from their stores and fill as many of their holes as possible with counters. The winner will have a surplus of counters which are kept in his store. This game focusses on skills such as numerical ability, strategy, alertness, focus and so on.

Aadupuliyattam

AduPuli or Goats and Tigers was once a very popular game as we find this game pattern etched on stone floors of many old and ancient temples.

It is a hunt game played by two players. One player gets three tigers while the other controls the flock of sixteen goats. Pawns (either tigers or goats) should be placed only on intersections of lines. During a turn only one coin has to be played. At the beginning tigers are placed at three points as depicted by T in yellow circles.

These are a few of the interseting and very pro-ductive traditional games. But there are a lot of these games still hidden in the villages of India. I leave it to the readers to discover these and thereby spread it to the entire soceity.

One goat is placed on any open point on the board such that it is safe from tiger’s attack. Next one of the tigers is moved to its adjacent open point. All goats are introduced one by one on the board one each during its turn. (i.e., one goat is placed on a point, next one tiger moves, next one more goat is placed on a point, next a tiger moves, next one more goat is placed on a point and so on).All goats have to be introduced on the board before a goat starts moving. If a tiger ‘T’ encounters a lone goat ‘G’ with a open point just behind it, then the tiger jumps over the goat to the open point and takes out the goat from the board.

Tiger cannot jump over a goat if there is no open point behind the goat. Tiger can jump only once during its turn and does not have multiple jumps during a turn. A goat that has been taken out of the board by a tiger is permanently out of the game and cannot be reintroduced on the board during that game. After all goats are introduced on the board, goats start moving.

Only one goat can be moved to its ad-jacent open point during its turn. Goats cannot jump over anything. Tigers cannot jump over an-other tiger. Goats should avoid getting jumped over by tigers and try to surround tigers such that they cannot move

Tigers try to take out as many goats as possible and avoid getting tied down by goats. Goats try to tie down all tigers rendering them immobile. Lines denote the path of movement. Goats and tigers should always move along the lines. Movement of a pawn between adjacent points is possible only when the points are connected by a line.

Game ends when either tiger takes out more than 6 goats or goats manage to immobilise all tigers. This helps develop strategy and concept of team work by teaching that even though weak, if united, one can vanquish the stronger enemy as a team.

These are a few of the interesting and very productive traditional games. But there are a lot of these games still hidden in the villages of India. I leave it to the readers to discover these and thereby spread it to the entire society.