Ganjifa is an ancient card game which originated in Persia and arrived in India through Sufi Saints during the Mughal period dating back to around 15th century. The Persian word ‘Ganjifeh’ means playing cards and these were the foremost artistic creations used for playing cards. The specialty of these cards is that they are traditionally hand-painted and typically circular, although some rectangular decks have been produced. Initially, the Mughals Ganjifa cards had paintings of wrestlers, acrobats, swordsmen, soldiers, hunters, musicians, animals and birds.
This was a game popularly played by post-Medieval Kings and noblemen that spread to many regions in the country, more so in princely States where kings patronized the art and the artists. Each region in the country had its form of the game as the colour, iconography varied with each region sticking to devotional themes. Needle-fine lines that depicted the subject was one more aspect of the intensity of precision rooted in the art form. The varied forms of Ganjifa included Sawantwadi Ganjifa from Maharashtra, Navadurga Ganjifa from Orrisa, Rajasthan and Gujrat Ganjifa, Kashmir Ganjifa, Nepal Ganjifa and the Mysuru Ganjifa which was greatly supported by the Mysore Royal family.
The game first became popular at court, in the form of lavish sets of precious stone-inlaid ivory or tortoiseshell (darbar kalam). It later spread to the general public, as a result of which cheaper sets (bazar kalam) would be made from materials such as wood, palm leaf, or pasteboard. The card suits comprise of twelve subjects on coloured backgrounds, with pip cards running from 1 to 10, and two court cards, of a minister or counsellor, and a king. The precise style and arrangement of the decoration on any set are dependent on its artist. The designs of the cards use motifs from the ten avatars of Vishnu. This was probably the eight-suited pack of 96 Cards. By the 16th Century, several different types of Ganjifa games had already been developed in India and the Hindu form of these cards was known as Dashavatara Ganjifa. The Dasavatara Ganjifa shows Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parashurama, Rama, Krishna, Buddha and Kalki. There is a variation with the eight avatar as few regions depict Balaram or Balabhadra.
Dashavatara Ganjifa with the Avataras as incarnates of Shri Vishnu was the most popular card game in Rajasthan, Bengal, Nepal, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra. The main centres of Ganjifa manufacture are Bishnupur in Bengal, Sawai Madhopur and Karauli in Rajasthan, Sheopur in Madhya Pradesh, Fatehpur District in Uttar Pradesh, Sawantwadi in Maharashtra, Balkonda, Nirmal, Bimgal, Kurnool, Nossam, Cuddapah and Kondapalle in Andhra Pradesh, Mysore in Karnataka, Puri, Sonepur, Parlakhemundi, Barapalli, Chikiti and Jayapur in Orissa, and Bhaktapur, Bhadbaon and Patan in Nepal.
Bishnupur, the temple city of Bengal, was the capital city of the Malla Dynasty, which was started by Raghunath Malla in the seventh century. In early 18th century, it was conquered by the Bardhaman Raj Kirtichand and was sold out to another Bardhaman Raj Tejchand in the 19th century. In Bishnupur a tradition of ‘Pat’ painting had been evolved which is original in its style, completely different from other schools of Bengal or Orissa pat. Here again, two kinds of Ganjifa playing card had been evolved, one is known as ‘Dasavatara tas’ a game of 120 cards and another is known as ‘Naxo tas’, a 48 cards game. The making of Dasavatar Ganjifa is confined to a single family of Bishnupur.
In the 19th Century, the Maharaja of Mysore, Mummudi Krishnaraja Wadiyar III (1794-1868) had a niche created for the game and art of Ganjifa. The supporter of art and learning devised several variants for the board and card games. Kouthuka Nidhi, the last Chapter of Sritatvanidhi, the monumental work of the Maharaja, comprehends of the card game of Mysore, known as the Mysore Chada Ganjifa. It mentions the names of the card games devised by the Maharaja, number of cards used in each game, details of iconography, colour combinations and the corresponding shlokas. The games were devised by the King and he had artists who would design them in his court under his guidance.
Krishnaraja Wadiyar has come out with 13 complex card games, requiring anything from 36 to 360 cards covering mythology, Puranas, astronomy and astrology. Themes as Navagraha, Pancha Pandava, Saamrajya and Naveena Ramayana are his creations. Thin fine line miniature paintings with decoration were mounted on cardboard. Later some artists were also inspired by the Vijayanagar style. Ganjifa cards were also known as ‘Kreeda patras’ and were also made on sandalwood pieces and ivory, etched in enameled silver and gold. A representative example of these packs is the Chamundeshvari Chad, with 16 suits, of which one is headed by Chamunda, the patron goddess of Mysore. The complexity of the game and the dominance of western printed 52-leaf playing cards later silenced the art, craft and the game.
Ganjifa is a royal court game of cards and is quite different from the game of cards we play today. The deck of cards today have 52 cards whereas, the Ganjifa deck has anywhere from 48 to 360 cards depending on its kind. It is not merely playing cards, but a way of life for the artisan. Making the Ganjifa cards involves a tedious process, often involving all the members of the artist’s family, with individual responsibility depending upon age and ability. Ganjifa is an intrinsic part of an artistic tradition and the card games unravel myth, legend, lore and a cosmological picture of the world.
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