Culture and tradition play a great role in the formation of social behaviour and basic life skills of the society. A few decades ago, there weren’t any play schools. A few centuries ago, people went to gurukulams or “Thinnai Palli” (A school in the front veranda of the house). The social behaviour of children, character education, basic language, maths and science skills, and physical health were not great challenges. How was this possible?
The role played by traditional games was instrumental in developing these characteristics and cognitive behaviour in the children. It enhanced their memory, and a child as young as five would be able to walk to the corner store and buy the groceries the family needed without a list, and a child as young as eight would be able to calculate the money and pay the grocer.
From the view of pedagogy, tradition and culture are important for the development of children and also create a sustainable environment for them to grow. This is called the intangible cultural heritage. UNESCO defines intangible cultural heritage as “The ‘intangible cultural heritage’ means the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills – as well as the instruments, objects, artifacts, and cultural spaces associated therewith – that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage.”?
One cultural heritage is the traditional games we play, which have been passed through generations from grandparents to grandchildren. For children at home, even now in rural areas and tribal areas where there are no schools, these traditional games are the best way to entertain themselves, and it is not just for relaxation but it also teaches many skills and indigenous way of learning or as we call it these days, learning while playing. These games teach fundamental math, language, values, and also help them learn strategies to defend themselves in moments of crisis while keeping the culture and wisdom intact to be passed on to the next generation.
Children below the age of 8 spent their days at home playing with siblings, cousins, and neighbours. And they played all day long. We will look at four traditional games that have been instrumental in developing mental and physical health & fitness, and the general well-being of children. Many of these games are from the Sangam era in Tamil Nadu, around the 2nd century BC to the 2nd century AD. These games are indoor games and can be played during hot summer days or rainy days or to pass time, especially on Shivratri and Vaikunta Ekadesi days, when people are awake throughout the night.
These games induce relaxation and also help children learn cognitive empathy with psychological benefits. While playing childlike, patting, hugging, holding hands, laughing, eye contact. This improves hand-eye coordination, social and behaviour skills, cognitive skills and gross and fine motor skills. While playing, children are happy and have empathy and positive emotions. Children also develop a knack for negotiation, learn new words, work in teams, and improve socialisation. Winning helps them feel empowered, whereas losing helps them to accept adverse results with confidence and without compromising self-respect.
Pallanguzhi
This game is played on a wooden board with 14 holes. In some houses, in the back veranda, it was carved, and some made a hole in the backyard to play with this. Many use shells, coral tree seeds, tamarind seeds, and any other seeds. Coral seeds are in an attractive red colour. Pallanguzhi is a two-player game. So basically, it is distributing the seeds into the holes and redistributing. So when you redistribute, if you come across an empty hole, you can take the seeds in the next hole.
This game has a lot of room for experimentation. What happens when you distribute the coins clockwise/ anticlockwise? If you start with 5/6/7 seeds in each pit, how does the game go? If you take the first turn from the last pit, what happens? This generates the curiosity of the child. Also, it is basic math- division. It also develops hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, maths skills, and memory power. The EQ and AQ of the child are also developed due to social interaction and accepting defeat when the opponent is better.
Kids learn to count as they play, and when the number of seeds in each pit is changed. it ranges from 5 to 12. They learn about addition and subtraction. Also, they learn to observe the face of the opponent and find out if they are playing a fair game.
Moksha patham/ paramapatham
There are four pillars in the Indian culture. Artha, kama, dharma and moksha. Moksha is the final aim, that is to join the feet of god and get out of the cycle of birth and death and karma. So this is the aim of the board game and this teaches a lot of moral values. There are snakes and there are ladders, the Ladders indicate spiritual elevation or a virtue that is followed, consciousness rising. Snakes indicate worldly vices, diseases, greed etc which bring us down. See the names of the snakes in the padam. Prominent Nagas, They denote materialism against spirituality.
This game gives us the message that all of us start our life from the first square, the amount of virtues and vices we have done decides who reaches the topmost square. The ups and downs in life are explained and fate plays an important role is denoted by the dice. The values learnt from this board game is learnt by reflection and thinking. The kids learn that what is right and what and wrong and how it differs in each situation. The board is filled with images of gods, angels, and saints, and also flowers, birds, planets, land and aquatic animals, musical instruments, war instruments, and buildings which are part and parcel of our life. The ultimate aim of the game is enlightenment
Each square is attached to a value, and faith is assigned to square 12, reliability to the 51st, generosity allocated to the 57th, and knowledge to the 76th, while asceticism was put in the 78th square. Similarly, the virtues were also assigned to one of the squares between these squares with the virtues. Disobedience to the 41st square and arrogance allotted to the 44th square. Vulgarity, lying, theft, alcoholism, anger, debt, pride, greed, murder, and lust. From square 100, each square was assigned to the heavens, Indra loka, Brahmaloka, Kailasa, Vaikunta, and so on.
Game Pieces may be anything like Seeds, Coins, and Shells, the only requirement is that each coin should be unique and should be easily differentiated from each other. This game can be played by more than two people, and in villages, grannies play this game with their grandchildren, often to engage their free time. This game is easy to play and has not many strict rules.
Thayam/dhayam
Thayam is a game of chance often played by everyone in the family, and similarly to the ludo game we play in the present times. It develops counting skills in little children, and as they grow, it helps them think, plan, and execute strategies to win. Thayam means first stone in Tamil. Long dice in metal are used to play this game, and it is called Dayakattai. This game helps children make small decisions, which upgrades their skills and helps them be aware of what is happening around them.
The twist in the game is that the game starts when the player rolls a 6 on the dice. This depends on luck, and this indicates the role fate plays in the life of a person. When the 6 is rolled, the game starts, and some have a free run as not all players roll 6 easily. Then the game of skill starts as each player can cut the coins of the other players and send them back to the start, except in eight safe zones.
The game Dhayam is very beneficial in terms of developing mathematical skills of a person. Moving the coins after rolling the dayakattai requires an accurate understanding of the game. The game needs utmost concentration to defeat the opponent. Thus, it improves concentration skills. The tingling sounds of the brass dayakattai are satisfying, and the sound produced is very similar to the sound of the brass bell. The sound that arises from these dayakattai can instantly make your senses relax, and it also adds a sense of rhythm to the game. As the players take turns to play the game, the rhythm that arises out of the dayakattai appeals to the ears. The players can learn strategies and techniques as they play the game frequently and dedicatedly.
There are also health benefits attributed to the game of dhayam. For example, the rubbing of hands while rolling the dhayam can regulate blood circulation in your hands, which will in turn activate your brain by pumping blood into your brain.
Aadu puli Aatam
Aadu Puli Attam originates in Tamil Nadu, which is a strategic, two-player board game. It also popular in Karnataka, known as (Huli gatta), and in Andhra Pradesh (Puli Joodam or Puli–Meka). It literally translates to the game of tigers and goats.
There are three tigers and fifteen goats in the game. A toss is done to determine who takes which side. The objective of the player playing tiger is to kill all the goats and objective of the player playing goat is to surround all the tigers from not moving. Each players takes an alternative turn. The tiger and goat are placed at opposite ends and on alternate turns they make their moves. The playes can play only if all their coins are in the board, only along the lines the goats and tigers can move and one move can be made per turn. If a tiger jumps over a goat, the goat is killed while the tiger cannot move if it is surrounded by goats.
What does this game teach? Strategy and confidence- strength alone is not enough to defeat your opponents, and a group of people, though they may be weak and tiny, can defeat a stronger opponent by teamwork, synergy, and strategy. Healthy competition is encouraged, and the kids learn to solve problems and improve logical reasoning. It also keeps the brain sharp and helps negative thoughts away from the idle mind. It also helps to think, pause, and reflect on the next move in an efficient way. This game is played mostly by men. In ancient houses and in temple steps, we can see the engravings of this game chart.
To conclude, many times we forget that the spirit of playing or taking part is the most important thing. Most traditional games have no rigid rules and it full of fun. The kids play even after they lose, and they also learn perseverance, resilience, and patience. They learn to take criticisms and praise with equal fervour, and they have connected emotionally and socially with their teammates. The power of observation and memory power increases, and they relate incidents to senses, thereby reinforcing endurance power. Introducing traditional games in early childhood education improves language adequacy and helps in grooming social skills, which are instrumental in self-development and self-acceptance among the children.
About the Author
Umayal Subramaniam is an Early Childhood Educator with over a decade of experience and runs Squirrels Play School in Thanjavur. She is a commerce graduate from Lady Doak College with an MBA in finance from Thiagarajar School of Management. She was born into a business family in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. Married to a businessman, she is the mother of two lovely boys. She is an avid reader, loves crafting, embroidery, and painting. She is currently pursuing her research in Multiple Intelligences. She loves seeing the world through little eyes, and she looks forward to inspiring people to give back to society in ways that matter.
She is also a blogger and a poet, and is the author of the book 'Doodle with Words-sketches of life' available on Amazon. She is an awareness ambassador with 'The Spectrum awareness project' on Facebook, which promotes inclusiveness of people with disabilities in society.