Ashtadikpala: A Rare and Unusual Set of Ganjifa Cards Arunima Pati1 1. Department of Archaeology, Deccan College Post‐graduate and Research Institute, Yerwada, Pune – 411006, Maharashtra, India (Email: [email protected]) Received: 30 August 2015; Accepted: 23 September 2015; Revised: 25 October 2015 Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology 3 (2015): 709‐714 Abstract: The game and cards of Ganjifa are very rare by themselves. The playing of this game and the manufacturing of these cards are on the verge of extinction. Again, among the themes of painting these cards, only the most popular ones like the Dashavatara or the Ramayana are found in the playing centres. But the rarer themes which are many and varied like the Navagraha, the Rashi, and the Astadikpala ganjifas are neither made nor are seen much anywhere. One such set, the Ashtadikpalas, has been discussed specifically in this paper. Keywords: Ashtadikpala, Ganjifa Cards, Dashavatara, Ramayana, Navagraha, Rashi, Odisha Introduction Games and gaming objects have been evolving simultaneously with the process of development of other human activities. Some of these recreational activities still have their traces left as they evolved with changing times. But some did not leave much impact among the playing population and failed to keep up with the changing behavior of people and perished or are in the verge of disappearance. The game of Ganjifa is a clear example of this phenomenon of decreasing popularity. Though it is known that Ganjifa cards and game used to be very popular in many important parts of the world and in the whole of India, the antiquity and origin are still controversial. In the present times the traces of these game and even the manufacturing of these cards is very sparse. The origin of the first prototype of playing cards itself is a matter of controversy. A number of countries like France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Egypt, India and China have claimed independently to be the birthplace of playing cards (Leyden 1982). But most scholars agree it to be the achievement of the imperial China (Wilkinson 1895). Prior to the modern Europeanised cards, there used to be a different kind of playing card system in almost every major part of the world. These cards are popularly known as Ganjifā, Ganjafeh, Ganjafāh, Kanjafeh, Kanjifāh, Kanjapā or Kanjafāh. It is commonly believed that ‘Ganjifa’ name comes from the word ‘Gunj’ which is Persian for ‘treasuryʹ. ISSN 2347 – 5463 Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology 3: 2015 India had its share of popularity for these cards and the game of Ganjifa. It is believed by most of the scholars that the Mughals brought this game from Persia to India (Leyden 1982) as the history of Ganjifa in India cannot be traced back beyond Babur. However, there is a possibility of India having similar traditions even before the Mughals (Saletore 1985). Taking this controversy into consideration, it can be assumed that this game might have gained popularity from the time of the Mughals. Slowly it spread to the local Indian kingdoms as the empire of the Mughals spread and the themes gradually got Hinduised. The local people of Indian kingdoms included these cards in their culture, they started preparing and playing them in their respective indigenous styles. There was a time when these cards were made and played all over the country with various designs and various sets of rules. With time, however, their popularity declined, restricting their manufacturing to certain centers such as Puri in Odisha, Sawantwadi in Maharashtra, Nirmal in Andhra Pradesh, Mysore in Karnataka, Bankuda in West Bengal and a few more places across the country where the traditional styles of painting are still practiced (Leyden 1982). Ganjifa Tradition in Odisha In Odisha, Ganjifa cards are called Ganjapa. They are mostly round in shape with the diameter ranging from 2.5” to 4” (6.25‐10 cms). The themes of painting are very closely associated with the culture of the place. Raghurajpur and Puri mostly produce Dashavatara Ganjapas and the cards manufactured at Sonepur are based on the epic of Ramayana as Puri and Sonepur regions have close cultural affinity with the Dashavatara and the Ramayana stories respectively. However, the Dashavatara set is most popular throughout Odisha. Besides these, there are some less popular themes too. They are rare and are quite significant as far as the cultural component of the game is concerned. Among them the major ones are the Navagunjara theme which is based on Arjuna’s penance and Lord Vishnu’s appearance before him, the Krishnashtamalla theme which is about the eight feats of young Lord Krishna and the Ashtadikpala Ganjapa card set which depict the lords of the eight cardinal directions. In this paper the last set has been briefly described with pictures. Ashtadikpalas ‘Dikpala’ is a conjoint of Diga (Direction) and Pala (Guard). The eight cardinal directions of ancient Indian tradition have guardians assigned to them, who are also considered as deities in the Hindu religion. This pack is mainly seen in Chikiṭi inside Odisha. The suit signs are the main attributes of the dikpalas (Table 1) (Pati 2014). The Raja (king) cards depict the deities riding/sitting on their respective animal‐ vehicles with their consorts sitting beside them. But in the Pradhan (minister) cards they ride their vehicles alone. The detailed descriptions are given in following pages. 710 Pati 2015: 709‐714 Table 1: Chikti Ashtadikpalas Suits Suit/Dikpala Names Colour Suit Sign Kubera Black Sabre Yama White Daṇḍa (Staff) Indra Green Vajra (Thunderbolt) Varuna Blue Phasa (Noose) Ishana Orange Trishula (trident) Agni Brown Shikha (Flame) Vayu Yellow Dhvaja (Flag) Nirutti Red Khadga (Sword) Indra He is the lord of the East. He is represented as a fair man sitting on his elephant Airavat with Indrani on his right and a staff in the left hand. The minister card shows him holding his main attribute, the thunderbolt, in his right hand (Fig. 1). Yama Yama is the guardian of the nether land, the South. He is painted as a dark man, with the complexion like the dark, monsoon clouds. He holds a noose in his right hand with his consort on the left and sits on his buffalo. In the minister card he holds a staff in the left hand (Fig. 1). Varuna He guards the West. He sits on his crouching Makara with his queen on the left and holds a noose in the right. In minister card his queen is replaced by a stick with a swan head (Fig. 2). Kubera The lord of the North sits on a horse with a khanda (sabre) in his right and holding his consort with the left. In the minister card he holds two sabres in both the hands. Unlike the literary depiction of Kubera, he is depicted as a fair man with a white horse (Fig. 2). Agni He is the guardian of the Southeast direction. He rides a goat with his consort on the right and holds a spear on his left hand. In the minister card he holds the spear in the right hand (Fig. 3). Nirruti A fierce looking, dark‐cloud complexioned guardian of the Southwest rides a human being (Naravahana) who is in a crawling position. In his left hand is his sword. In the minister card the depiction is the same only without his consort (Fig. 3). Ishana The guardian of the Northeast is actually a form of Lord Shiva. But there are forms of 711 ISSN 2347 – 5463 Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology 3: 2015 Figure 1: Dikpalas Figure 2: Dikpalas (Source: K. K. Maheshwari Collection) (Source: K. K. Maheshwari Collection) Ishana himself too. In this pack the depiction is of Sadashiva, an iconography very rare in any form of art in the whole India. He has five heads with beard, four hands, wears a tiger skin below and sits on his bull, Nandi. His consort is on his right and he holds a deer on the left upper hand. In the minister card in the right lower hand he holds a trident and deer in the upper left (Fig. 4). Vayu He guards Northwest direction. He rides a deer and holds his consort on his left and a flag in his right hand. In the minister card in his left hand there is a bow (Fig. 4). Discussion The story of the Ashtadikpalas is not a frequently narrated one among the other Hindu mythological stories, like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The appearance of these guardian deities is absent in the very early group of temples of Odisha like Parashurameswar, but appear on the Mukhamandapa ceiling of Mukteswar which is dated between sixth to eighth century A.D. However, they appear prominently at the 712 Pati 2015: 709‐714 Figure 3: Dikpalas Figure 4: Dikpalas (Source: K. K. Maheshwari Collection) (Source: K. K. Maheshwari Collection) cardinal directions on the outer walls of the Rajarani temple, at Bhubaneswar, which dates back to around ninth century A.D. By the time of the Brahmeswar temple, not only were they depicted popularly but also appear with their female counterparts’ in c. tenth century A.D. (Donaldson 1985) in Odisha and continue appearing in most of the temples built later. It shows that their prominence and importance was gradually increasing and they had become an integral part of the general iconographic depictions and rituals. It was this rising popularity which probably led to their depiction in the Ganjapa cards in Odisha. This shows that the game had local essence. When this kind of emergence pattern is seen, one tends to argue that there was some kind of indigenous game already existing in this region.