Traditional sports of India

Bihar - Kanche

Delhi & UP – Gilli-Danda

Team of Bombay Sappers, Image courtsey: Quora

Pehlwani is a form of wrestling practised in Punjab and Haryana and was developed in the Mughal times by combining the indigenous malla-yuddha with the Persian koshti pahlavani. A practitioner of the sport is called a pehlwan, while teachers of the sport are called either as ustad or guru. 

Nagaland - Naga Wrestling

Naga Wrestling is a popular sport where the goal of the game is to make your opponent touch the ground. The game is played over three rounds and the one whose body touches the ground more times loses. The players reach for each other's waist belt and also try rolling the body and lunging. Since 1961, the state holds an annual championship where wrestlers from across villages participate.

Image source: http://travelblog.buzzintown.com

Assam - Dhop-Khel

Image source: Wikipedia

Insuknawr is an indigenous game played in Mizoram. The game involves two players holding a wooden rod, commonly a rice pounding pestle called Suk, under their and resembles tug of war. Each player tries to push the other one out of the playing area- a circle of about 16 feet. The game can have three to four rounds, of 60 seconds each. If a player falls to the ground or lets go of the Suk, lets the rod touch the ground, he loses.

Himachal Pradesh - Thoda

Thoda is a martial art from Himachal Pradesh, dating back to the days of the Mahabharata. The sport tests the contestants’ prowess in archery. Players shoot arrows, with a round piece of wood fitted to the head of the arrow to reduce its wounding ability. The game is held on Baisakhi.

Punjab – Rural Olympics

Visualised by philanthropist Inder Singh Grewalan in 1931, the annual meet sees farmers from areas surrounding Kila Raipur get together and face off across sports. The 'Rural Olympics' is held in Kila Raipur, a small village near Ludhiana, between February and March every year. The three day fest sees over 4,000 sportsmen and women participate and supposedly a million viewers. Sports include mud wrestling, bullock cart race, tractor pulling and non-traditional stuff like lifting 4 cycles with their teeth and much more. The event sees participation from Punjabis from Canada and UK as well.

Sagol Kangjei is the variant of polo played in Manipur. Sagol refers to pony / horse, kang a ball or round object, and jei is the stick used. Contrary to Polo, which is the rich man's game, in the state of Manipur, the game has always been played by the common man. The game consists of two teams with seven players on each side mounted on ponies.

Tripura - Gella-Chutt (Dwkhwi Sotonmung)Gella-chutt is a famous game from Tripura, played between two teams each with seven to 12 members. One team is denoted as the 'in' team and the other 'out' team. The 'in' team designates one player as the 'king' and the 'king' takes up a place away from the team; the team meanwhile is confined to a space called “ghar”. The aim of the game is for the king to enter into the ghar, aided by his in team even as the out team tries to prevent it.

Andhra Pradesh - Kodi-PunjuluKodi-Punjulu or cockfight is a blood sport between two cocks, normally gamecocks bred specially for the sport. The cocks face off in a pit, the winner being the last cock standing.

Karnataka - Kambala Buffalo Race

Kambala is annnual Buffalo Race held traditionally in coastal Karnataka, India between November to March. The contest generally involves two pairs of bufffaloes, controlled by a farmer with a whip. The race track is a paddy field filled with slush and mud. 

Source: Wikipedia

Kerala - Vallam Kali

Source: ""Kerala boatrace" by Arun Sinha from India - Aranmula-boat race- Kerala-India-1. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kerala_boatrace.jpg#/media/File:Kerala_boatrace.jpg>.

Jallikattu or Manju viraṭṭu is the sport of bull taming played in Tamil Nadu during the Pongal celebrations on the day of Mattu Pongal. In olden days, a single man would attempt to tame the bull within a large wooden enclosure cheered on by onlookers. The modern version sees the bull released from a narrow passage called 'Vadi', emerging out of which numerous men vie for the purse attached to the horn of the speeding animal by clinging on to its hump.

Gujarat - Manjha/Uttarayan

Kite flying has been a famous event in Gujarat for several years. It is said that India was the place of origin for kite flying. While it probably began as a sport for royalty, the sport is nowadays played by the masses, especially on the day of Makar Sankranti. Gujarat, in fact, holds an International kite festival on this day that sees participation from across the globe.

Kite flying on a mosque, Image courtsey: Wikipedia

Madhya Pradhesh - Mallakhamba

Team of Bombay Sappers, Image courtsey: Wikipedia

Kho kho is one of the most popular tag sports played across the sub-continent. The game is played by two teams of twelve players each, of which nine take the field. One team sits and kneels with alternate players facing in the same direction. The other team field runners who try to avoid being touched by members of the sitting team which sends out catchers. The teams exchange roles after all players have been tagged and the one with the shortest time taken to tag the opponent team wins. 

Lagori, also called lingocha, pitto or Satoliya is a popular game played using a ball and a pile of flat stones. Generally played between two teams- seekers and hitters, the game involves a member of the seekers trying to knock down the pile of stones by throwing a soft ball at it. The seekers now attempt to rebuild the pile while the hitters throw the ball at them. A seeker is out if the ball touches him. The only way to protect oneself is by touching a hitter before the ball hits one. The hitters attempt to stop all the seekers before they rebuild the pile.

Nicobar Islands - Ke Nang Huan (Pig Fight)

Ke Nang Huan is a popular tribal sport of the Nicobar islands. The game is akin to the Tamil sport of Jallikattu, only here the bull is replaced by the pig. A pig is released into the field amidst a set of players who attempt to control the pig by grabbing its ears. The fighter who accomplishes the feat is the winner. 

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