Jaipur Pink Panthers have become first ever Pro Kabaddi champions beating UMumba 35-24 in an action-packed clash yesterday.
According to latest TRP ratings Kabaddi has become the second most watched game in India next to IPL. People are thrilled to see a gali-mohalla game to reach such heights of popularity while the other games like hockey and football has been striving for such popularity in India for many years now.
The Indianness of Kabaddi makes it special. It originated in Indian soil and hence has an Indian essence in it.
For example, the concept of 'revival' or 'sanjeevani' of a player when a raider scores touch point in oppositions's half. It means the 'out' player can be brought to life again. This is symbolically equal to the concept of rebirth in most of India-born religions like Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism where life is cyclical. This concept in missing in other sports like cricket, boxing etc wherein out literally means out. You can not return back to the game once you are declared out. It strikes similarity with western mythology where life is linear and so you have only one life. Hence the sense of urgency arises to do everything, achieve everything in one lifetime.
Another example in Kabaddi is of a raider fighting for a point in opposition's half in order to revive his teammate. This exhibits Indian belief system of paropkar and karma. This is not evident in foreign games like relay race wherein a player passes batons to his teammate who then runs for fulfilling former's goal.
Signing off with a note - Lets enjoy this wonderful game and keep alive its essence. 'Khel Kabaddi!'
According to latest TRP ratings Kabaddi has become the second most watched game in India next to IPL. People are thrilled to see a gali-mohalla game to reach such heights of popularity while the other games like hockey and football has been striving for such popularity in India for many years now.
The Indianness of Kabaddi makes it special. It originated in Indian soil and hence has an Indian essence in it.
For example, the concept of 'revival' or 'sanjeevani' of a player when a raider scores touch point in oppositions's half. It means the 'out' player can be brought to life again. This is symbolically equal to the concept of rebirth in most of India-born religions like Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism where life is cyclical. This concept in missing in other sports like cricket, boxing etc wherein out literally means out. You can not return back to the game once you are declared out. It strikes similarity with western mythology where life is linear and so you have only one life. Hence the sense of urgency arises to do everything, achieve everything in one lifetime.
Another example in Kabaddi is of a raider fighting for a point in opposition's half in order to revive his teammate. This exhibits Indian belief system of paropkar and karma. This is not evident in foreign games like relay race wherein a player passes batons to his teammate who then runs for fulfilling former's goal.
Signing off with a note - Lets enjoy this wonderful game and keep alive its essence. 'Khel Kabaddi!'
Awesome! Really nice to see the linking of Indian mythology with the Indian game!
ReplyDeleteI really like football betting. We have something in common here.
ReplyDelete