A short writeup on the indigenous game of India- Gilli Danda, written by our student Aryan Singhal.

Aryan is 10 years old, a young orator from Gurugram. We are proud to have him as a student of the Little Kathakar Program, an Online Public Speaking through Applied Storytelling & Theatre Program under the mentorship of Trainer Khusshbo Chokhaani. We congratulate Aryan for this exemplary true self-expression.

The Game of Gilli Danda

Have you ever thought of a game in which two sticks are fighting with each other or supporting each other? Hello, everyone. My name is Aryan and today I will be talking about one of the ancient games of India called Gilli Danda.

Gilli Danda” is an ancient sport of India, possibly with origins over 2500 years ago. In India, the origin of Gilli Danda dates back to the period of Mauryan Empire. Historical references suggest that common people played the game on the streets, sometimes being accompanied by members of the royal family. Over time, social stigma made higher social strata to abandon it, making it common man’s game.

India was a vast country with a major portion of South Asia under its belt. But as the geographical boundaries were drawn, India was divided, and new countries came into existence. However, people never lost the fervor for Gilli Danda. The original game spreads from India to its neighboring countries and it came to be known as “Danguli” in Bangladesh, “Dandi-Biyo” in Nepal, “Lappa-Duggi” in Afghanistan and “Kitti-Pullu” in Sri Lanka. Do you know Gilli Danda is a also played in Combodia and Itlay?. Gilli Danda is known by various other names like “Tipcat” in English, “Alak-Doulak” in Persion and many similar names in Indian regional languages.  But with different names came different regional rules. Players played as per their own rules and thus, there was no uniform expansion of the game. It continued to remain as an amateur game, only played for entertainment and fun. It was in 2016 that the countries playing Gilli Danda came under the aegis of Gilli Danda International Federation headquartered in Noida in Uttar Pradesh.

“Gilli Danda” is played with two pieces of equipment – a Danda, being a long wooden stick, and a Gilli, a small oval-shaped piece of wood. It is played with four or more players of even numbers. Standing in a small circle, the player balances the Gilli on a stone in an inclined manner with one end of the Gilli touching the ground while the other end is in the air. The player then uses the Danda to hit the Gilli at the raised end, which flips it into the air. While it is in the air, the player strikes the Gilli, hitting it as far as possible. Having struck the Gilli, the player is required to run and touch a pre-agreed point outside the circle before the Gilli is retrieved by an opponent. There is no such official number of players. Gilli Danda can be played individually or between two teams. Gilli Danda is believed to be the origin of Western games such as Cricket, Baseball and Softball.

Gilli Danda also improves the skills like hand and eye co-ordination, judgement, calculation etc.  Do you know The Bollywood movie, Lagaan mentions the traditional youth sport of Gilli-Danda as being similar to cricket.

Eminent Hindi writer Premchand wrote a short story named “Gilli-Danda” in which he compares old simple times and emotions to modern values and also hints at caste inequalities in India. The protagonist and narrator of the story recounts his inability to play Gilli-Danda well in his youth. He remembers a friend who could control the Gilli as he wished. He goes away and comes back as an adult and a government officer. He searches for his old friend and finds him – he is very poor and says “Where do we get the time?” when asked by the protagonist whether he plays Gilli-Danda. The protagonist convinces him to play but he cheats at every opportunity, but his friend meekly submits, even though he would not have let him get away with such deceit in his youth. After being defeated, the friend invites him to a Gilli-Danda match the next day.

The protagonist is shocked when he sees his friend play just as well as before and realizes that he had indulged him because he knew that he had forgotten the basics of Gilli-Danda. The protagonist feels very small and goes back to the city humiliated. As an amateur youth sport, Gilli Danda has many regional variations. In some versions, the number of points a striker score depends on the distance the Gilli falls from the striking point. The distance is measured in terms of the length of the Danda, or in some cases the length of the Gilli. Scoring also depends on how many times the Gilli was hit in the air in one strike. If it travels a certain distance with two mid-air strikes, the total points are doubled. If the Gilli is not struck far enough the player has to pick it up and try again.

Shobhit Maurya is the world champion of Gilli Danda with several world records in his name. He is one of the famous Indians in all time of history. The UNESCO Advisory committee and the International Council of Traditional Sports and Games (ICTSG) are keen to revive and promote all such traditional sports which are almost dying in the World. The Advisory committees are a structured way for individual citizens to share their opinions and perspectives, study issues, and develop recommendations in a focused, small group structure.  In the end I would like to say that Gilli Danda is one of the best Indian games.

“This was an attempt from my side to share a short glimpse of the Indian game of Gilli Danda. Hope you enjoyed the information.”-Aryan

Leave your valuable comments for encouraging our students to innovate, explore and express more.

A short writeup on the indigenous game of India- Kabaddi, written by our student Manas Dokania.

Manas is 14 years old, a young orator from Jharkhand. We are proud to have him as a student of the Little Kathakar Program, an Online Public Speaking through Applied Storytelling & Theatre Program under the mentorship of Trainer Khusshbo Chokhaani. We congratulate Manas for this exemplary true self-expression.

The Game of Kabaddi

Imagine a playground of dry mud demarcated by a white line and each side having 12 players striving to get hold of the other team members and just gobble them up like chicken legs. Well, Well, Well! Don’t worry. I am not talking about chicken catching, its human catching. It’s “Kabaddi-THE CONTACT TEAM SPORT OF INDIA”.

Kabaddi is basically a combative sport, with seven players on each side; played for a period of 40 minutes with a 5 minutes break (20-5-20). The core idea of the game is to score points by raiding into the opponent’s court and touching as many defense players as possible without getting caught on a single breath.

One player keeps on chanting “Kabaddi, Kabaddi, Kabaddi”, charges into the opponent’s court and try to touch the opponent closest to him, while the seven opponents make manoeuvres to catch the attacker. This is Kabaddi, the match of one against seven, known as the game of struggle. Super fun to watch and extremely strenuous to play.

The players on the defensive side are called “Antis” while the player on the offense is called the “Raider”. The attack in Kabaddi is known as a ‘Raid’. The antis touched by the raider during the attack are declared ‘out’ if they do not succeed in catching the raider before he returns to home court. These players can resume play only when their side scores points against the opposite side during their raiding turn or if the remaining players succeed in catching the opponent’s raider.

The history of Kabaddi can be traced back to some 4,000 years ago in India. And while it has had roots in the country all this time, its spread hasn’t been as deep. Deeply rooted in Indian culture for centuries, Kabaddi has even found a mention in Hindu mythology. In the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata, It is said that the Pandava warrior, Arjuna, mastered Kabaddi’s skills from Lord Krishna, who adored the sport. The story goes that Arjuna would breach enemy walls inconspicuously and would walk back unscathed with his Kabaddi skills.

Another tale from the Mahabharata involves Arjuna’s son, Abhimanyu, who invaded the seven-tiered defence — an army formation — of the Kauravas. It draws sporting parallels to a single raider raiding in the opposition side of the mat, which often has seven defenders.

Apart from Mahabharata, it is also believed that Gautam Buddha used to play kabaddi during his leisure time.

It is a popular belief that Kabaddi originated from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. In India, the sport had different names in different states before its establishment as the sport it’s recognized today. It was called Chedugudu or Hu-Tu-Tu in the southern part of the country, while it was referred to as Hadudu (for men) and Kit-Kit (for women) in the east.

Some argue that the sport originated in Iran about 5,000 years ago. “My hometown, Sistan, was where it was first found,” claimed Meraj Sheykh, a notable kabaddi player from Iran.

It wasn’t until the early 20th century that the sport finally got its recognition. In 1918, the first official rules and regulations of Kabaddi were brought into effect before it was declared as the national sport of India. However, it took five years to print those documents for circulation.

In 1923, an All India Tournament of Kabaddi was held in Baroda and since then, several national-level tournaments have been organized across the country.

Kabaddi in India got its first international exposure during the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. Although the sport wasn’t officially a part of the sporting extravaganza, a 35-member Kabaddi team from Hanuman Vyayam Prasarak Mandal (HVPM), an educational institute in Amravati, was invited to demonstrate the antics in Berlin. The team performed at the Congress of Physical Education a day before the commencement of the Olympics leaving spectators amused. The team, eventually, received medals on the final day of the Berlin Olympics.

The widespread recognition of the sport saw the establishment of the All India Kabaddi Federation (AIKF) in 1950, which staged the first men’s and women’s national tournament in 1955 in Chennai and Kolkata respectively, after running it as a demonstration sport in the inaugural 1951 Asian Games.

In 1972, the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI) was formed to promote the game in India’s neighboring countries. The decision bore fruit as the first Asian Kabaddi Championship was held in 1980 where Japan, Nepal, Malaysia, Bangladesh and India contested. The Indian national kabaddi team defeated Bangladesh in the final to become the first-ever champion.

In 1982, the game was once again added as a demonstration sport in the 1982 Asian Games before it was finally established as a medal sport in the 1990 Asiad. India have always been a superior side in the Asian Games, winning all but one of the eight finals since 1990. It wasn’t until 2018 that their winning streak was halted by Iran in the final.

The origin of the game dates back to pre-historic times played in different forms. The modern Kabaddi game was played all over India and some parts of South Asia from 1930. The first known framework of the rules of Kabaddi as an indigenous sport of India was prepared in Maharashtra in the year 1921 for Kabaddi competitions on the pattern of Sanjeevani and Gemini in a combined form. Thereafter a committee was constituted in the year 1923, which amended the rules framed in 1921. The amended rules were applied during the All India Kabaddi Tournament organized in 1923.

The All India Kabaddi Federation was formed in the year 1950 to look after the promotion of the game and the Senior National championship started from the year 1952. The new body, Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI) came in to existence from the year 1972 affiliated to Indian Olympic Association (IOA) with a view to popularize the game in India & neighboring countries of Asia. After formation of this body, Kabaddi took a new shape and National level competitions started for Junior and Sub-junior boys & girls also

The 1st Asian Kabaddi Championship was held in the year 1980 and was included as a demonstration game in the 9th Asian Games, New Delhi in the year 1982.

The game was included in the South Asian Federation (SAF) games from the year 1984 at Dacca, Bangladesh. Kabaddi was included as a discipline in the 11th Asian Games Beijing 1990 and India won the lone Gold Medal of Kabaddi in the 11th Asian Games Beijing 1990. India is the reigning champion in the succeeding Asian Games held in Hiroshima 1994, Bangkok 1998, and Busan 2002 & recently at Doha 2006 and created history in Indian sports by winning five consecutive gold medals in the Asian Games so far.

1st World Cup of Kabaddi was organized in 2004 at Mumbai (India), India won the First World Cup by beating Iran in the finals. The second World Cup was held Panvel (India) in 2007 and India once again became Champion.

The First Asian Women Championship was held at Hyderabad in 2005 and India won the Gold Medal. Women Kabaddi was included for the first time in the South Asian Games held in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 2006.

For the first time in the history of Asian Games a separate indoor stadium was built for Kabaddi competition and training in the 15th Asian Games held at Doha [Qatar] 2006. The training/ warming up courts and main field of play was made up of puzzle mats of Korean make. The main field of play was equipped with a giant public screen, which displayed replays and the running score. Two ‘Tissot’ plasma scoreboards, info terminals for the presentation crew, the ceremony crew and the media were provided.

The 15th Asian Games Doha provided an excellent opportunity to showcase Kabaddi to the Europeans and Australians who were in great numbers in organizing the Asian Games. A good many spectators belonging to European countries, USA, Australia, Western Asia, and the Mediterranean countries, who saw the Game for the first time, were very impressed with the simple rules and the thrill of the sport and desired to introduce the sport in their countries. This has given Kabaddi very good and positive exposure for its future development in the continents of Europe, USA, Australia and Africa.

Kabaddi was included in the 2nd Asian Indoor games held at Macau from 25th October to 3rd November 2007. Once again India Won the Gold Medal. Kabaddi Men & Women both was included in 1st Asian Beach Games being hosted by Indonesia in 2008 at Bali, India Won Both the Gold Medals of Men & Women Events.

There has been a gradual but significant change in the trends of the game since the past 50 years. What was once considered a game of brawn is not so now. The introduction of mats, shoes, new techniques & changes in rules has made the sport more interesting and advantageous to skilled players who are now able to defeat heavier players with better skills & techniques.

The overall objective of the game is to simply score more points than the opposition team within the allotted time. To do this, each team must attempt to score points by both attacking and defending. When attacking, the offensive team sends across a raider into the opposition’s half who must touch one of more members of the opposition to score a point. When defending, the objective is to capture the raider by wrestling them to the ground or simply by preventing them returning to their own half by the time their breath is up.

Kabaddi is played by two teams that both consist of twelve players each. However, only seven players per team are allowed on the field of play at any one time. The Kabaddi playing surface measures 13m x 10m and is separated into two halves by a white line, one team occupying each half. It can be played on a wide range of surfaces from a dedicated clay court to spare ground where a playing surface has been chalked out.

Unlike so many other popular sports and games, Kabaddi is a game that genuinely needs no special equipment, clothing or accessories, ensuring it is a game that is open to everyone.

Scoring in Kabaddi is relatively simple. Teams score one point for each opponent that they put out of the game. Putting an opponent out (and thus scoring a point) is done in different ways. When attacking, this is done by the raider touching opposition members, putting them out. When defending, it is done by preventing the raider returning to their own half.

Bonus points are also available in Kabaddi. The raider can earn an extra point by successfully touching the bonus line in the opposition’s half. Three bonus points are available to a team when all of their opponents are declared out and a point is also available if any part of an opposing team member’s body goes outside of the boundary.

At the end of the match, the team with the most points is declared the winner. If at the end of the game both teams have the same amount of points, then the game is deemed to be a draw.

Harjeet Brar Bajakhana was one such player who started playing kabaddi in his early childhood and became the quintessential player of Kabaddi in India. Harjeet was born in Bajakhana village of Punjab in 1971. Since Kabaddi was popular in Punjab his father Sardar Bakshish Singh encouraged and supported him to participate and play the game. When Harjeet was in 8th grade, he participated in the Mini Games at Guwahati and won. His passion grew for the game and considering this he was admitted to the Sports college in Jalandhar, Punjab. This was the official beginning of his very impressive career in Kabaddi. Growth of Kabaddi and Harjeet’s Career Kabaddi was initially the country’s national agenda, but it got its international exposure in 1936 in the Olympics. Harjeet made his international debut in 1994 in Canada. His one of the raids was so admired by the people that it received a bet of $100,000.00. Following his footsteps there are many rising stars in Kabaddi in the Indian team and we are performing exceptionally well as a country. India has won most of the world cups in the Kabaddi tournaments so far. India is also seeing an increase in Kabaddi betting as more and more people are placing bets online.

If we go back to 1996 then, at the 1996 Kabaddi World Cup in Liberty, Brar won a cash prize of one lakh rupees for a single winning raid. He was so respectful and showed sportsmanship for the opposing players which made him the most loved amongst the Kabaddi fans. Harjeet was a raider in circle style kabaddi and his kabaddi moves were like what anyone would hardly have thought of. He was from a small village of Punjab and with his polite attitude and respect toward the opponents and love towards the Indians, he became a worldwide icon in the Kabaddi world.

Harjeet Brar Bajakhana did what no one else could have done in kabaddi and received the most honorable title – ‘Father of Kabaddi’.

Harjeet’s Unfortunate Death Harjeet along with other four Kabaddi players met with a road accident while they were traveling on 16 April 1998, to New Delhi to get their visas to travel abroad. They were traveling on Kharar-Morinda road of NH 95. A truck collided with the gypsy they were traveling in and India lost a Kabaddi legend. Harjeet left India in his very early life but his legacy will always remain with the Kabaddi game and the gem will always be remembered as the ‘Father of Kabaddi’ in India and across the world.

Kabaddi in 21^st Century INDIA

Pro Kabaddi is a ground-breaking initiative by Mashal Sports Pvt. Ltd and Star India Pvt. Ltd. Ever since its inception in 2014, The League has revolutionized the sport of kabaddi with stunning innovations, making it an aspirational sport for players and fans alike. Backed by the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI) and supported by participating members of the International Kabaddi Federation (IKF) and the Asian Kabaddi Federation (AKF), the league has witnessed tremendous growth over the past seasons.

Mashal Sports and STAR India have jointly worked towards elevating the sport of Kabaddi to an international standard with new and exciting innovations in the rules and how the game is viewed, thus heralding in a new era for kabaddi. They infused new life into the sport by bringing it to the major metropolitan cities of India along with regions where kabaddi was yet to gain a foothold. vivo Pro Kabaddi now has unprecedented participation from various parts of the country owing to the outreach over the past seasons and the advent of new programs pioneered by Mashal Sports to encourage young talent from across the country. Kabaddi is now also seen as a viable career option by various aspiring players in India and abroad.

The addition of four new teams in the fifth edition of the league made vivo Pro Kabaddi India’s biggest sports league in terms of geographical representation and number of teams. The new sides – Gujarat Giants, Haryana Steelers, Tamil Thalaivas and U.P. Yoddha made the competition all the more intense and the kabaddi all the more exciting.

Mashal Sports Pvt Ltd. is the organizing company of Pro Kabaddi League. It was founded in 1994 by Anand Mahindra and Charu Sharma with a vision to make kabaddi more available to the Indian audience. Their pathbreaking initiative was backed by international broadcasting giant STAR India. After extensive research and market study, they launched the inaugural edition of Pro Kabaddi with the player auctions on 20th May 2014. The games were brought to home audiences live on the STAR India Network of which Mashal Sports is now an integral part.

Few eminent personalities of India who has helped immensely to bring media attention to the game of Kabaddi are: Charu Sharma, a well know television personality; Anand Mahindra, chairman and managing director of the Mahindra Group; Actor Abhishek Bachchan, owner of “Jaipur Pink Panthers-Kabaddi Team” has taken several initiatives on a regular basis to popularize the game.

“This was an attempt from my side to share a short glimpse of the Indian sport of Kabaddi. Hope you enjoyed the information.”- Manas

Leave your valuable comments for encouraging our students to innovate, explore and express more.