Home Sports History of Indian sports – Information, Facts, Players and Traditional Indian Sports

History of Indian sports – Information, Facts, Players and Traditional Indian Sports

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The history of Indian sports is believed to be 8000 years old, from the time of Indus Valley civilization. Indians were one of the most modern and developed civilization in the ancient period.

In fact, many historians are still astonished by the civilizations’ neat architecture, hygiene and overall sense of town planning. However, they didn’t stop there. many pieces of evidence suggest that the people played an early form of chess and invented dice. The existence of seals recovered from the sites of Indus valley and other artefacts also prove the fact that hunting and boxing were practised then.

Ancient History of Indian Sports

In and around  975 B.C. the love for chariot-racing and wrestling was common in both in India and Greece, where Olympic was first introduced.

During the Vedic India, dehvada or the body-way is defined as “one of the ways to full realization”. In times of Rig-Veda, Ramayana and Mahabharata, the men of stature and circumstance got competent with each other in chariot-racing, archery, horsemanship, military tactics, wrestling, weight-lifting, swimming and hunting.

From the time Indian Vedic history is recorded, the relationship between the Guru (teacher) and his student (hisyo) has been considered as an integral part in the history of Indian sports.

Sports in India reached new heights when Buddhism came into practice. Tiruvedacharya in Villas Mani describes many fascinating games. They are archery, equitation, hammer-throwing and chariot-racing.

During Manas Olhas (1135 A.D.), Someshwar writes about Bhrashram (modern-day weight-lifting), Bhramanshram (walking in today’s time) and also about Mall-Stambha (the sport of wrestling).

One can easily notice that today’s Olympic disciplines are sophisticated versions of ancient games played in India. Chess, wrestling, polo, archery and hockey (possibly an alter version of polo) are some of the games believed to have originated in India, and a part of the great history of indian sports.

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