Conserving Traditional Games - A Challenge For Our Future

India had a rich tradition of games and sports that passed on from one generation to the other, but sadly this steady flow of heritage and culture seems to be getting diluted in the present time. Come along with TLJ writer Gaurav Goswami to fathom the reasons.

- Gaurav Goswami

The sad state in which we find our traditional games and sports could get even worse, because if not for the rural part of the country we will be left with no traditional games to talk about. How many of us have watched the live televised kho-kho match coming on DD sports? We living in the urban part of the country must honestly place a hand on our heart and truly confess that we have indepth knowledge about sports like cricket, football and lawn tennis, and the latest video games being released, rather than our traditional games.

IT SHOULDN’T HAVE BEEN LIKE THIS

We were not like this; India is known for its rich culture and tradition, and games and sports have always maintained an important position. The history of sports and games in India dates back to the archaeological excavations finds of Mohenjo Daro and Harappa, the Vedic times; the epics Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the Puranas, the literary works of Kautilya, Kalidas, Panini, Dandin, a lot of Buddhist and Jain literature. In early India, games and sports were concerned with the overall development; from physical health to learning the art of offence and defence, to being considered merely a kind of recreation like learning music, fishing, singing and dancing.

IMPORTANCE OF TRADITIONAL GAMES