Ganjapa ( or, ଗଞ୍ଜପା) are the traditional

playing card A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a fi ...

s from the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n state

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

. It can also refer to the

trick-taking A trick-taking game is a card or tile-based game in which play of a ''hand'' centers on a series of finite rounds or units of play, called ''tricks'', which are each evaluated to determine a winner or ''taker'' of that trick. The object of such g ...

card game A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker). A small number of card ...

that they are used for. It is played with circular shaped

Pattachitra Patachitra or Pattachitra is a general term for traditional, cloth-based scroll painting, based in the eastern Indian States and territories of India, states of Odisha, West Bengal and parts of Bangladesh. Patachitra artform is known for its int ...

painted cards. Originated in the 16th century, Ganjapa is a recreational game for male members of the

Odia Odia, also spelled Oriya or Odiya, may refer to: * Odia people in Odisha, India * Odia language, an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family * Odia alphabet, a writing system used for the Odia languag ...

society, primarily villagers, kings and their

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance ...

men. Ganjapa is played as "''Charirangi''" (cards of 4 colors), "''Atharangi''" (cards of 8 colors), "''Dasarangi''" (cards of 10 colors), "''Bararangi''" (cards of 12 colors), "''Chaudarangi''" (cards of 14 colors) and "''Sohalarangi''" (cards of 16 colors). The variation of this game influenced by

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

n card game Ganjifeh is known as "Mughal Ganjifa". The game is popular in

Puri Puri () is a coastal city and a Nagar Palika, municipality in the state of Odisha in eastern India. It is the district headquarters of Puri district and is situated on the Bay of Bengal, south of the state capital of Bhubaneswar. It is als ...

and Ganjam district of Odisha. As a result of the relative isolation of Odisha in the past, Ganjapa developed very differently from the Ganjifa found in the rest of India. Odisha has by far the largest community of Ganjifa players and manufacturers.

Etymology

The

word Ganjapa is believed to be related to "

Ganjifa Ganjifa, Ganjapa or Gânjaphâ, is a card game and type of playing cards that are most associated with Persia and India. After Ganjifa cards fell out of use in Iran before the twentieth century, India became the last country to produce them. The f ...

" (originated from

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

word Ganjifeh) that was popular by the

Mughal emperors The Mughal emperors ( fa, , Pādishāhān) were the supreme heads of state of the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent, mainly corresponding to the modern countries of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The Mughal rulers styled t ...

History

The first written document regarding the play dates back to

Mamluk Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning " slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') ...

times 1399 – 1412, mentioning about the winning of a ransom by Mamluk’s army officer by playing Kanjafa. The

Topkapı Palace The Topkapı Palace ( tr, Topkapı Sarayı; ota, طوپقپو سرايى, ṭopḳapu sarāyı, lit=cannon gate palace), or the Seraglio A seraglio, serail, seray or saray (from fa, سرای, sarāy, palace, via Turkish and Italian) i ...

in Istanbul has a collection of a set of Mamluk cards. Earliest mention of Ganjifa is found in 1527 AD during Mughal emperor

Babur Babur ( fa, , lit= tiger, translit= Bābur; ; 14 February 148326 December 1530), born Mīrzā Zahīr ud-Dīn Muhammad, was the founder of the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent. He was a descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan through his ...

's rule.

Artwork

Artworks used on Ganjapa cards are Pattachitra painting. Pattachitra motifs and patterns with figurative representations of dancers and other people, and of the

Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...

Dasavatar The Dashavatara ( sa, दशावतार, ) are the ten primary avatars of Vishnu, a principal Hindu god. Vishnu is said to descend in the form of an avatar to restore cosmic order. The word ''Dashavatara'' derives from , meaning "ten", an ...

a of

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

god

Vishnu Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" within t ...

, and other deities of Hindu mythology are painted on the round cards. Artworks always have traditional Odishan art, and vary from region to region and community to community in Odisha. Ganjapa artwork from Ganjam varies from that of Puri. Ganjapa appears very differently from Ganjifa found in other parts of India as well. In Moghul Ganjapa, the suit-symbols are now highly stylized and abstract. Dasavatara Ganjifa contains only 10 suits but its Ganjapa equivalent can contain 12, 16, 20, or 24 suits to make the game more challenging. The Ramayana type is presently unique to Odisha and perhaps the most popular in the present. Also produced are ones with birds as suit-symbols, a relatively modern invention marketed to tourists.

Card making

The card making procedure resembles that of Pattachitra. Layers of glue made by grinding tamarind seeds are pasted on cloth are applied and dried. Circular shaped cards then are carved using hollow iron cylinders. Two circular sheets are joined together to make a card. After drying natural dyes made of

lac Lac is the resinous secretion of a number of species of lac insects, of which the most commonly cultivated is ''Kerria lacca''. Cultivation begins when a farmer gets a stick that contains eggs ready to hatch and ties it to the tree to be infes ...

, limestone (for white color), coal-carbon (for black) and

tamarind Tamarind (''Tamarindus indica'') is a Legume, leguminous tree bearing edible fruit that is probably indigenous to tropical Africa. The genus ''Tamarindus'' is monotypic taxon, monotypic, meaning that it contains only this species. It belongs ...

(for yellow) are used to paint figures.

Variations

Ganjapa is played as "''Charirangi''" (cards of 4 colors or 4 suits in a pack of card), "''Atharangi''" (cards of 8 colors), "''Dasarangi''" (cards of 10 colors), "''Bararangi''" (cards of 12 colors), "''Caudarangi''" (cards of 14 colors) and "''Sohalarangi''" (cards of 16 colors). Each color has 12 cards that makes the total number of cards an integer of number associated with the card's name, i.e. a "Charirangi Ganjapa" has 48 cards similar to

playing cards A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a fi ...

, "Atharangi Ganjapa has 96 cards and so on. Each color is recognizable by a unique background color. Each suit contains 10 numbered cards (1-10), a king and

vizier A vizier (; ar, وزير, wazīr; fa, وزیر, vazīr), or wazir, is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the near east. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called ''katib'' (secretary), who was a ...

. The king possesses the highest value followed by the vizier and then the numerical series in descending order. The king's card has a painting of him in sitting posture with legs folded at the knees (known as "chauka madi basa"), with the vizier's card with him standing. The king is also seen riding a chariot with the minister mounted on a horse. Some of the cards have the king with two heads and the minister with one head. Signature figures from Pattachitra like imaginary figure with human head and four legs of four different animals are also seen in cards.

References

{{Playing card packs by geography Indian card games Culture of Odisha History of card decks Dedicated deck card games Medieval India Indian handicrafts Arts in India Articles containing video clips