GCCI Youth Wing organised the Traditional Indian Board Games Event under the leadership of chairman Shri Parth Desai. The event was conceptualized by Dr. Prachi Desai and was hosted by Jainam and Heli Shah as part of 75th Independence Day celebrations.

There were 15 different traditional Indian board games, hand painted in kalamkari cotton cloth , by rural artists from Andhra Pradesh. The event is inspired from Bhavyata Foundation, Mumbai.

Board Games in Indian tradition

Most people are anaware of the fact that several of the world’s most popular board games were conceived in the Indian subcontinent, including Ludo (or pachisi), Snakes and Ladders, and also Chess, the greatest and most universal board game of all. Gaming with the use of dice and playing of board games have had a major role in Indian culture since at least the third millennium BCE.

Traditional games took a modern avatar and were called by chic English names.

Pachisi, dating back to roughly the 6th century, gave rise to Ludo. Another game - called Gyan Chaupar in north India and Paramapadam Sopanam in the south - inspired Snakes & Ladders and may have even contributed key elements of The Game of Life, Milton Bradley's 1860 board game. Intervention of television and computers further pronounced the doom, and all that was good and fun about the past was lost.

Building Values and Sociability

Traditional Games were not just games, they were designed in such a way that one can develop lot of skills like logical thinking, building strategy, concentration, basic mathematics, aiming, and lot more. Traditional Games act as learning aids. They teach us many things such as developing a sportsman spirit, development of sensory skills, improvement in motor skills and finally to have fun.

Representing them in Indian Art Forms

Presenting these games in various paint styles and textile traditions is a way to revive the play as well as the art form. In addition, these games become a tool for awareness and education on dying art forms, while being ecologically sensitive and empowering rural initiatives.