Thaindian News

New Delhi, Oct 6 (IANS) The rich legacy of Indian sports is not confined to the field. Just step into a unique exhibition at the capital’s National Museum that captures its evolution over the last 5,000 years, and you’ll know.

Titled “Games and Sports of Indian Art”, it opened Oct 4 and is drawing sports enthusiasts. The 85-odd exhibits that throw light on sports as a way of life in India comprises small Harappan terracotta toys, chessmen, silver tops, yoyos, arms and miniature paintings from Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and northern Punjab.

The canvases depict sportsperson engaged in wrestling, malla-khamba, polo, swimming, fencing, weight lifting, archery, kite flying, chess and the game of chaupar.

“Games and sports in India had very early roots and this tradition is as old as the history of the country. India has a rich heritage of sports, games and recreational activities, though only a little of it stands preserved in different mediums,” C.V. Ananda Bose, administrator of the national museum, told IANS.

“We wanted to showcase the best of India’s sporting tradition to the world during the Commonwealth Games.”

The most riveting object of art in the exhibition is an intricate 11th century stone sculpture of a “royal woman playing ball”, Bose said.

“We have selected the exhibits at random. The disciplines include martial arts, animal sports and outdoor games,” he said.

The exhibits have been sourced from the museum. “Our museum has 200,000 exhibits. We have tried to give adequate representations to different regions,” he said.

The spirit of Maharashtra has been captured by “malla-khamba” played on a greasy wall. “The sportsperson climbs up and down the wall and performs acrobatics. It is a traditional sport. It originated in the Deccan in 1680 AD,” Bose said.

“Rajaputra”, an ancient royal sport from Kangra, was set to classical music. Wrestlers and archers took part in the game to prove their mettle in acrobatics and body sports to the beat of music, Bose said.

A series of miniature art from Kangra Valley depicts the sport.

Fundamentally, the primary object of all sports and games had been amusement and respite from the tedium of every day life, said Daljeet, consultant, department of paintings at the National Museum in the capital.

“Religious rites also gave impetus to the physical culture of sports in ancient India. The art, Kaya Sadhana, in which the body was subjected to certain disciplines, was believed to lead to salvation. It is said that only through perfect understanding of the body and its functions does success in worldly life, as also in transcendental life, become easy,” he said.

The exhibition will close Nov 4.