Ancient board games making a comeback

Researches and experts present at the first-ever national conference on ancient and medieval board games organised in Mumbai said that ancient board games are making a comeback, albeit slowly.

Psychologists tell us, play is a critical part of human existence. It is critical to the muscular and mental development of children and relevant for mental and physical relaxation among adults.

Whether it is the game of dice in epic Mahabharata or Satyajit Ray's Shatraj ke Khilari, board games have its own standing.

"Ancient games has its own history and importance. We are trying to revive the ancient board games," says Dr Mugdha Karnik, the managing trustee of INSTUCEN Trust.

Dr Karnik, a sociologist and an educationist with special interest in nature and environment, said that the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) has taken a keen interest in the project. "I see kids playing on smartphones, sitting next to each other, but not speaking to each other. This is not something which is good, we need to tackle this issue... ancient board games are important and we are making all efforts to revive these," she said.

Researchers and experts Dr Kurush Dalal, Raamesh Gowri Raghavan and Dnyaneshwari Kamath had also prepared a concept note - 'Playing with the Past' for the first-ever national conference on ancient and medieval board games in India.

"Board games have been devised often as a teaching aid for strategic, moral, mental, social, physical, reflexive, probabilistic, calculative, arithmetic, geometric, alphabetic, imaginative, military, tactical, religious, spiritual and other forms of training and education," said Raamesh.

He said that they are also mapping the ancient games through Project Kheliya.

"Kheliya originated as a joke term for the tendency to find board game patterns at archaeological sites, especially among students and alumni of the Centre for Extramural Studies of University of Mumbai and the INSTUCEN Trust. Serendipitously however, it has turned into an unanticipated survey of board games etched on the floors of various monuments throughout the country. Here we report board games brought to our attention from Hampi, Khokhari, Mahabalipuram, Badami, Nasik, and Ellora," he said.