Gili Danda
Place of practice (continent, state, nation)
Gilli-Danda is an amateur sport played in the rural areas and small towns all over Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as Cambodia, Cuba and Italy.
Gilli Danda has its origins in South Asia. The game has a history of around 2500 years, and it was first played during the Maurya Empire. In some rural areas of Asia, it is widely played. People from some European countries like Turkey also love playing it. It’s a popular youth sports game and has a resemblance to popular western games like cricket and baseball.
History
IIn india, the origin of Gilli Danda dates back to the period of Mauryan Empire. Historical references suggest that common people played the game on the streets, sometimes being accompanied by members of the royal family. Over time, social stigma made higher social strata to abandon it, making it common man’s game.
India was a vast country with a major portion of South Asia under its belt. But as the geographical boundaries were drawn, India was divided and new countries came into existence. However, people never lost the fervor for Gilli Danda. The original game spread from India to its neighbouring countries and it came to be known as Danguli in Bangladesh, Dandi-Biyo in Nepal, Lappa-Duggi in Afghanistan and Kitti-Pullu in Sri Lanka. But with different names came different regional rules. Players played as per their own rules and thus, there was no uniform expansion of the game. It continued to remain as an amateur game only played for entertainment and fun.
It was in 2016 that the countries playing Gilli Danda came under the aegis of Gilli Danda International Federation headquartered in Noida in Uttar Pradesh. The Federation is working on restoring this age-old traditional Indian game by drafting a rule book and promoting it professionally.
Description
Gilli Danda is known by various other names: it is called Tipcat in English, Dandi-Biyo (डण्डी बियो) in Nepali, alak-doulak (الک دولک) in Persian, dānggűli (ডাঙ্গুলি) in Bengali & Assamese, chinni-dandu in Kannada, kuttiyum kolum in Malayalam, viti-dandu विट्टी दांडू in Marathi,kitti-pul (கிட்டி-புல்) in Tamil, Gooti-Billa or Karra-Billa or Billam-Godu in Telugu, Gulli-Danda'(ਗੁੱਲ਼ੀ ਡੰਡਾ)’ in Punjabi, Geeti Danna (گیٹی ڈنا) in (Saraiki, Iti-Dakar (اٽي ڏڪر) in Sindhi, Lappa-Duggi (لپا ڈگی ) in Pashto, Kon ko in khmer, the Cambodian language), Pathel Lele in Bahasa Indonesia, Syatong in Tagalog and Awe Petew in Ilonggo dialect of Philippines.
“Gilli Danda” is played with two pieces of equipment – a danda, being a long wooden stick, and a gilli, a small oval-shaped piece of wood.
Standing in a small circle, the player balances the gilli on a stone in an inclined manner (somewhat like a see-saw) with one end of the gillitouching the ground while the other end is in the air. The player then uses the danda to hit the gilli at the raised end, which flips it into the air. While it is in the air, the player strikes the gilli, hitting it as far as possible. Having struck the gilli, the player is required to run and touch a pre-agreed point outside the circle before the gilli is retrieved by an opponent. This aspect of the game is similar to runs in cricket or home-runs in baseball.
There is no official maximum number of players or teams. Gilli-danda can be played where each individual plays for themselves, or between two teams.
To play Gilli Danda you need:
Two wooden sticks are required for this game. Gilli – a small wooden piece 3-1/2 inches long 1-1/4 inches diameter at the centre and tapering at both ends. Danda – a long stick two feet long and one-inch in diameter, like a round ruler. Ask your parents to help you get this. Any carpenters shop will make one for you.
A small circle of four feet diameter is drawn. In the centre a small oblong shaped hole is dug which should be smaller than the gilli.
How to play:
Two teams are formed. One bats and the other fields.
Fielders stand in a position from where they can catch the gilli. The first player places the gilli in the hole and lifts it quickly high in the air with the danda and then strikes it. If he fails at first, he gets another turn. If the fielder catches the gilli before it touches the ground, the batsman is out and the second player tries to hit the gilli. If the gilli is not caught, the distance from the hole to the place where the gilli falls is measured with the danda. Each danda equals one point.
The fielder stands where the gilli had fallen and tosses it to the batsman. The batsman tries to hit the gilli while it is in the air. If it falls, he taps the tapered end and lifts it in the air and strikes while it is in the air. He gets three chances to hit the gilli. If he does not hit it, or is caught, he is out.
The game continues till all batsmen are out. The team changes side and continues the same way. The team with higher score wins.
HOW TO PLAY GILLI DANDA
There should be at least a group of two players to play Gilli Danda. The players are divided into two equal member teams. After a coin toss, the team which wins the toss decides whether they will bat first or go for fielding. The team which bats is called the hitter team and the second one is the opponent team.
As mentioned above, two sticks are required to play this game. The short one is known as Gilli, while the long one is called Danda.
Gilli is lobbed up in the air using the Danda by a striker (batsman), and while it’s in the air, the striker strikes it again using the Danda. The goal of the striker is to hit the Gilli as hard as it can travel to a maximum distance from the striking point.
The striker is ruled out if a fielder of the opponent’s team catches the Gilli while it’s in the air. If the Gilli lands safely to somewhere in the ground, the distance between the Gilli and the striking area (or striking circle) is measured by using the Danda. The length of Danda is considered to be equivalent to one run. So the striker scores the same number of runs as the occasions it takes to cover the distance with the Danda.
If the hitting player (striker) is unable to strike the Gilli, then he/she will get two more chances to hit the Gilli and make it travel a reasonable distance. If the striker is unable to hit the Gilli in these three successive attempts, he/she is considered out, and the next striker of the same team comes in (if any).When all the strikers of the first teams get out, the second (opponent) team comes in to chase the score of the first team as strikers.
GAME RULES
Following are the basic rules one needs to know while playing Gilli Danda:
- Gilli Danda can be played by two teams of equal members (could be one on one play as well).
- During the game, two teams play with equal members. The team which wins the toss decides whether they should bat first or go for fielding.
- The hitter is considered to be out if he/she misses hitting the Gilli in three successive attempts, or the Gilli is caught by a fielder while it’s in the air.
WINNING
The team that scores more runs wins. Therefore, every team player tries to hit the Gilli as farthest as he/she can to earn more runs in its innings.