Page 9 - Physical Education in Ancient India
P. 9
Sports and Games
Other remarkable sports included games with wild beasts
and the games with horses. Sports with elephants was a
kind of race-competition between a man and a elephant,
held in a specially built stadium. It was, of course, extremely
dangerous as the man could be trampled on by an angry
elephant.
Other kinds of sports existed where a man fought unarmed
with beasts such as elephants, bulls, buffaloes, etc.
Asva-kanduka-krida, the sport with horses, was perhaps the
most sophisticated game of ancient India. It was practised in
a special playground of specific dimensions. The game was
played by two teams. The riders held strong sticks of cane
and had to strike a round ball made of wood covered with
leather. Each team tried to send the ball towards the
opposite goal. This game was very similar to what we now
call polo.
