I
have great pleasure in welcoming you to this daylong seminar on '
Sports and Pastimes in ancient India', held under the auspices of
the Institute for Oriental Study, Thane.
We have been conducting seminars on different facets of Indian culture,
since I982. This will be the twentyfirst seminar in this uninterrupted
series of seminars. We have scholars from different parts of the
country, assembled here today, and there will about twentyfive presentations.
I am sure that we will be richer in knowledge by the end of the
day.
Some of the greatest scientists of the modern world, such as Kepler,
Ampere, Darwin, Pasteur, Plank and Einstein have described that,
at the moment of discovery they felt the same pleasure and excitement
that a child feels while playing. Their admission regarding their
experience offers a valuable insight to understand the meaning and
the philosophy regarding play. Scientists feel that the 'impulse
to play' which can also be called 'curiosity' or 'exploration impulse'
gives species and individuals an advantage in the process of natural
selection. Biologists believe that few species retain in adult life
their youthful capacity for play.
I
have been using the word 'play', and all scholars, scientists and
researchers find it very difficult to use 'games' and 'sports' as
equaily meaningful substitutes for the word 'play'. These words
differ in their concepts and meaning, and using them as synonyms,
leads to confusion. Renowned Psychosociologist M.M. Bousqust has
described play as follows :
Play is desire for that with which one plays, not desire for something
which one lacks and feels one must obtain. It is desire for the
here and now, for the passing and the coming moment. In other words,
play is pure appetite for living, not for this or that type of life
made desirable by fashion or habit, but for things as they are,
for life as it is.
He
further states,' the more play is authentic- as in the case of an
absorbing children's game- the more the player feels freed from
the contingencies of all kinds. Play in totally gratuitous
and, as the German philosopher Eugen Fink has remarked,'it is an
oasis of happiness in the desert of so called serious life.'
Play
is difficult to define. Play demands nothing, play is innocence.
Play is creativity. Play transmits no academic or social skills.
It encourages an aesthetic appreciation of the world. When the reason
for playing is to win, the play ceases to be a pastime or leisure.
Today's games and sports are the enemies of play. The encroachment
of technology, advertising, and influence of money have made sports
increasingly harsh and ruthlessly competitive.
Leela and Kreeda are the two words which are close to the English
word 'play'. Only English language uses two words, game and play;
but the same concept in French, German, Spanish and many other languages
is described by a single word. If we want to understand the philosophy,
spirit and cultural dimension of our Kreedas, Leelas, Vinod and
Utsavas, we will have to purge ourselves from the semantic influence
of English language and colonial mindsets. The variety, diversity,
its relation to religion can only be understood by indianising our
outlook.
Study
of festivals, plays and games, is as important as that of any other
compartment of human activity. Encyclopaedia Britannica mentions
that :
The history of sports and games is a part of the history of man
as a social animal, his interrelations with other individuals and
groups, his civilization and culture, and specially his play.
British, German, French and other Western indologists, when they
came in contact with this civilization, from eighteenth century
onwards, were surprised to see a non- European civilization with
a highly evolved language, philosophy, social institutions, art
and architecture, and trade and health systems. Though they were
aware of Greco-Roman tradition of sports, organisation of games
for competitive play and codification of rules for each game took
place in Europe only in the nineteenth century Sir William Jones,
the father of Indology, who initiated the study of language and
comparative religion, had also observed,
If
the Festivals of the old Greeks, Persians, Romans, Egyptians and
Goths, could be arranged with exactness in the same form with the
Indian, there would be found a striking resemblance among them;
and an attractive comparison of them all might throw light on the
religion, and perhaps on the history of primitive world.
As
compared to the other aspects of culture, exclusive texts regarding
sports and pastimes were not readily available to the scholars.
The games of dice and hunting, as they were dominant royal games
did attract them, but other games and pastimes as enjoyed by the
people at large, went unnoticed. Unfortunately, the Indians, who
by and large followed the Western studies of Indian culture and
civilization, also neglected this dimension of culture. However
Mr. A.S. Phadke, in 1938, published his article 'The Sports and
Games as referred to in Sanskrit Literature' (The Prince of Wales
Saraswati Bhavan Studies, Vol. 10, pp. 64-98, published by Govt.
Sanskrit Library, Varanasi, 1938). Mr. G. K. Shreegondekar had earlier
presented a paper in the fourth Oriental Conference, titled 'Polo
under the Chalukyas' (Proceedings published in 1926, Vol. II, p.373-382,
Allahabad). Tribidnath Ray presented his paper 'The Indoor and Outdoor
Games of Ancient India' in the third Indian History Congress, (proceedings,
1939, p.241-261, Calcutta). Mr. N. P. Joshi, Mt. K.K. Raja, Mr.
Om Prakash, Narendra Jha Shastri are few others who have contributed
articles related to this subject. However the scholarship had to
wait for the exhaustive work on this subject by that great scholar
of Sanskrit, Dr. V. Raghavan, whose book 'Festivals, Sports and
Pastimes of India' was posthumously published in 1979. The recent
comprehensive publication 'Physical Education in Ancient India'
by Mr. S.H. Deshpande of Hanuman Vyayam Prasarak Mandali, Amaravati,
was completed in 1977, but was published only in 1992. We have paid
a heavy price for this neglect. All knowledge books related to this
subject, including Encyclopaedia of Sports, either have a cursory
mention of this subject, or have written adversely. For example
Van Dallen et al in their book 'A World History of Physical Education
(New York, Prentice Hall Inc. 1953) has given a most misleading
account of physical education and social life in ancient India.
The author's observations as referred to by Mr. S.H. Deshpande in
his above cited book (p.11) are as follows
The
Hindus seek release from the harsh vicissitudes of life through
absorption into the great 'eternal spirit' due to the causes such
as debilitating climate, high mortality rate, pestilence and poverty.
They were essentially interested in educating children to seek their
place in the divine order and to preserve the caste system. The
emphasis was on the future life rather than the present. The youngsters
were not inspired to 'get on in the world' or 'to help their fellowmen'
or to identify themselves completely with national goals. The enervating
climate sapped their strength and they accepted a religious philosophy
that rejected bodily activity. This abnegation of life was in direct
opposition to the maintenance of health and physical vigor.
C.A.
Bucher in his book 'Foundations of Physical Education' (St. Louis
: The C. V. Mosby Co. 1975, 7th ed.) repeated the same stories and
observed that, people of India are highly religious, and they ignore
the physical needs and desires of the body, and concentrate solely
on spiritual needs. He also states that Buddha prohibited games,
amusements and exercises. However this prohibition pertains to monastic
life, While Jatak Kathas are full of sport and pastimes including
wrestling, boxing and dancing. R.B. Forst in his book 'Physical
Education Foundations-Practices-Principles (London: Addison Wesley
pub. Co. Inc. 1975) refers to boxing, riding, hunting, dance, yoga;
but gives very little Information on physical education. E.A. Rice
in his book 'A brief History of Physical Education' (New York
: A.J. Barnes & Co. 1929) observed that, due to the warm climate,
people are indolent, dreamy and speculative. He further writes that,
Hinduism is inimical to progress, individuality, sanitation and
physical education. He goes ahead and says that Indian history in
sterile as far as athletic sports and physical education are concerned.
All
the above mentioned observations are not only incorrect and far
from the truth; but they are mischievous. They have simply borrowed
from the earlier writings of Indologists and Sanskritists, many
of whom were missionaries, and have echoed the same theories in
their writings on religion and social life of ancient Indians. The
same source material is borrowed by many Indian writers committed
to alien ideology and intoxicted with reformist zeal. Only a prosperous,
stable and harmonious society can give birth to creative plays and
pastimes. Social historians must take a note of these activities
enjoyed by a society, and reflected in its literature.
V.
Raghavan in his book, while giving account of Buddhist literature
on sports & pastimes, informs that, the Chandalas are referred
to as playing with iron balls and doing acrobatics on poles. Someshwara's
'Manasollasa' is literally an encyclopaedic work on seasonal pastimes
and festivals, and mentions many Vinodas and Kreedas.
While
commenting on Someshwara V. Raghavan in his book observed that,
The
king as a wise and popular ruler uses this occasion to gather the
forest dwellers, the Matangas and Chandalas, enjoys the Veena music
for which they are reputed, and distributes cash presents to them.
We
also have descriptions of common man's plays prevalent in different
parts of the country, though called by differed names. One such
play is Pariharapatha, which Buddhaghosha describes as, a kind of
hopping game played on a diagram drawn on the ground, by boys and
girls using a potsherd. The game is known as 'Ekka-Dukka' in Bengal,
'Pandi Sanitaka' in Tamil and ' 'Thikri' (potsherd) in Maharashtra.
We have a lot to learn from our past. We have to rediscover the
true meaning of play, i.e. Leela and Kreeda, which give birth to
creativity and pleasure. Play is something spontaneous, unorganised.
Commercial and technological pressure are turning modern sports
into a ruthless, competitive industry. Violence and use of drugs
seen in today's sports are inevitable outcomes of this approach.
We, in our history have the example of Dyuta which all wise people
have advised to resist the temptation of.
Your papers today, which really amount to time-travel, are going
to be a fitting reply to all these unfounded, unscientific and ignorant
writings on the history of sports and pastimes in Ancient India.
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