The Ramsons Kala Pratishtana, an organisation promoting handicrafts is conducting an exhibition of traditional games as part of its golden jubilee celebrations.
Though the pratishtana completed 50 years two years ago, the anniversary celebrations were postponed owing to COVID-19 pandemic. A release said there are two components to the exhibition - Kreedaa Kaushalya and Hasti Mangala – which were inaugurated on Sunday. The exhibition is open to public at Ramsons opposite the zoo till December 31, 2022.
Kreedaa Kaushalya
The Kreeda Kaushalya is an exhibition of traditional boardgames which features about 30 varieties of indoor board games that were once played across the length and breadth of the sub-continent. The games on display include Chauka Bara, Adu Huli, Pagaday, Chaduranga, Aligulimane, Navakankari, Paramapada, Sixteen Sepoys, Panchi, Vimana, Pancha Keliya, Nav Keti Keta, Pretwa, Dash Guti, Shara Vyuha, Ashtapada, Taabla, Anay Kattu, Hasu Chirate, Huli Kallu, Immadi Huli Kattu, Egara Guti, etc.
The release said the boards of these games have been conjured in various craft traditions from across the country like rosewood inlay of Mysuru, Kalamkari of Sri Kalahasti, silk embroidery of Ahmedabad, pit-loom dhurry weaving of Solapur and wood lacquerware from Channapatna, etc.
This year the design wing of Ramsons has brought game boards and pawns exclusively from the craft forms of Karnataka which have been GI tagged. The Navalgund jamkhanas have been reimagined to incorporate Chaukabara game patterns along with the traditional ones which have Pagaday pattern, the release added.
Hasti Mangala
Hasti Mangala is a celebration of the Indian elephant that has captured the imagination of poets, kings, artists, bards and commoners of India since time immemorial. Explaining the rationale for the exhibits, the organisers said the beauty, strength, enormity, and majesty of an elephant evokes awe and fascination in its onlooker and is the unofficial mascot of Mysuru. ‘’During the days leading up to the Dasara festivities, the roads of Mysuru become the runway for umpteen elephants who finally are the show-stealers at the Vijayadashami Jumboo Savari. Naturally,the elephant has been one of the favourite motifs for the Indian artist,” said the organisers.
Every corner across the length and breadth of our country abounds in art with the varied and stylised form of an elephant and it is a recurring motif in temple carvings, forts, palaces, water tanks, textiles, coins, paintings, individual sculptures, dolls, toys, etc. Hence Ramsons is featuring the motif of the elephant in different traditional and contemporary art and crafts of India in the exhibition, according to the organisers.
