Ancient Sports and Games in India

Chess

Chess is still a popular game in the world. Its origin is said to date back 7^th century. It is a mind game and could take hours to end. Chess is called as ‘Shatranj’ in India. The rules have been different in ancient times, in every region there used to be different rules but now chess is followed by same set of rules around the world. In modern era, Russians have ruled the world of chess but players like Vishwanathan Anand is an Indian who has been globally recognized in this game.

Kabbaddi

Unlike Chess, this is a game where more physicality is involved. It is a game of controlling breath and also having the strength. There is also a Kabbaddi World Cup which proves that this game has reached the global level and is still very much alive and watched by people.

Wresling

In Ancient India, wrestling was an important sport especially in major empires. There are still ‘akhadas’ where wrestlers train themselves and in India, wrestling is popularly known as ‘kushti’. In villages there are tournaments, on global stage ofcourse it is a bit different sport and wrestling is a popular sport in the world.

Kalaripayattu

It is called as the Indian Martial Arts. As the name suggests, it is practiced in South India and it is regarded as one of the oldest martial arts. In this world of guns major martial arts techniques are gone in decline but still some of them are alive and efforts are made to keep them alive as these are the major part of Indian culture.

Mallakhamba

Mallakhamba is a gymnasium sport. In this sport the performer will use either rope or poll and do different postures and positions. There are competitions held in India of Mallakhamba It is said to be popular among wrestlers in ancient times in Karnataka and Maharashtra.

Archery

In Ancient times there used to be wars among empowers and Archery was an important aspect used in wars. Arjun in Mahabharata is called as the greatest archer in the world. Even Kings used to go to jungle to hunt animals through bow and arrow. There used to be competitions of Archery and even in today’s time, Archery is a sport in Olympics and India has won a Gold medal previously in Archery.

There are also many great sports which are said to be ‘Made in India’. It is in Indians’ hand to keep these sports alive and make them global so the world can experience the culture of India.

– Jainam Jhaveri