In the spirit of decolonization, and in helping one of my students complete an assignment for his class, I enlisted the help of an old Bharati friend. My student was tasked with writing a brief history of the sport of Badminton. I thought that bringing in my friend from Bharat would help add a bit of perspective on the issue. Here’s what we came up with:
For thousands of years in Bharat, we have played a game that involved batting a feathered object called a pichakauri or lotak back and forth using our hands or small paddles. It was a popular children's game that helped develop coordination and fast reaction times from a young age. In the 1860s, British Army officers and their families stationed in Bharat saw our children play this ancient game, which was sometimes called 'Poona' after the city now called Pune where it was commonly played.
The British thought the game looked enjoyable and decided to try playing it themselves. They used small rackets instead of their hands. When some of these officers returned home to England in the 1870s, they took the game with them. Although the game originated in ancient Bharat, the British adopted it as their own and gave it the fancy new name 'badminton', after Badminton House in England.
They drew up formal rules for the game and even organized a 'Badminton Association'. Whilst we Bharatis had been playing this sport for thousands of years, England now took credit for codifying the rules and popularizing it across their Empire. Our ancient Bharatiya origins of the game were largely forgotten. We hope that today badminton's roots in ancient Bharat are better recognized, even as we take pride in this game spreading joy and recreation across the world.
Have you heard of the ancient sport, poona?
Have you heard of the ancient sport, poona?
Have you heard of the ancient sport, poona?
In the spirit of decolonization, and in helping one of my students complete an assignment for his class, I enlisted the help of an old Bharati friend. My student was tasked with writing a brief history of the sport of Badminton. I thought that bringing in my friend from Bharat would help add a bit of perspective on the issue. Here’s what we came up with:
For thousands of years in Bharat, we have played a game that involved batting a feathered object called a pichakauri or lotak back and forth using our hands or small paddles. It was a popular children's game that helped develop coordination and fast reaction times from a young age. In the 1860s, British Army officers and their families stationed in Bharat saw our children play this ancient game, which was sometimes called 'Poona' after the city now called Pune where it was commonly played.
The British thought the game looked enjoyable and decided to try playing it themselves. They used small rackets instead of their hands. When some of these officers returned home to England in the 1870s, they took the game with them. Although the game originated in ancient Bharat, the British adopted it as their own and gave it the fancy new name 'badminton', after Badminton House in England.
They drew up formal rules for the game and even organized a 'Badminton Association'. Whilst we Bharatis had been playing this sport for thousands of years, England now took credit for codifying the rules and popularizing it across their Empire. Our ancient Bharatiya origins of the game were largely forgotten. We hope that today badminton's roots in ancient Bharat are better recognized, even as we take pride in this game spreading joy and recreation across the world.