Know Your City: Ancient game patterns inscribed beneath Krishna’s butter ball come to light 

How many of us would relate to games like dhayakattam (the game of dice played in Mahabharata) or aadu puli aatam (the tiger and goat game)? These are ancient games played many years ago by our ancestors and are now slowly vanishing or being replaced by modern board games like monopoly.

In order to ensure these games do not die out in the coming years, Vinita Siddharth founded the Kreeda, a Chennai-based organisation, which is into reviving and documenting traditional games.

In her quest, Vinita toured many temples across Chennai and to her surprise, she discovered quite a few games inscribed on temple walls and floors.

Her most recent discovery was in Mahabalipuram.

A city-based art historian KT Gandhirajan had visited Krishna’s butter ball in Mahabalipuram. He recalled that he had visited Mahabalipuram multiple times, but never paid attention to the butter ball. Being an art historian, he was curious about the history of the monument, but he never dug deeper. One day, he went to the monument to take shelter from the sweltering heat and to his surprise, he spotted unique patterns around and under the butter ball.

Following this, he urged Vinita to visit the place and they found quite a few games inscribed in the giant stone.

What did they find?

Vinita claimed that around the butter ball, she spotted the patterns of dhayakattam (the game of dice), aadu puli aatam (the tiger and goat game) and vettai (solah seedi game). Under the butter ball, they found gahdi (the game of alignment).

What makes Vinita think that these are games?

While a lot of research will be involved in confirming that the patterns spotted beneath the ball are games, Vinita said that they are similar to the games played by our ancestors. “I have been into reviving traditional games for many years now and based on my research, they should be games. However, if archaeologists and geologists take a deeper look into these patterns, we can get a clear picture…” she opined.

Meanwhile, art historian Gandhirajan said, “I had come across such patterns in many temples and old houses. But what makes me say that they could be games is their reference to ancient Tamil literature and inscriptions.”

Talking about his earlier excavations, Gandhirajan said, “Two years ago, I found Tamil Brahmi ezhuthu in a place near Madurai, and in the same slab, I found two patterns of games — the aadu puli aatam and one with three squares. I found the same patterns in the butter ball, too. For now, we have only the literature and the inscriptions as evidence.”

He further explained that there are different forms of art – decorative, symbolic and geometric. These inscriptions in the ball are geometric and can be related more to our ancient games.

Stating that there is evidence of human settlement in Mahabalipuram, even before the Pallavas, Gandhirajan said: “Mahabalipuram was a place for trading many, many years ago as it is on the shore of Bay of Bengal. These games may have been inscribed by traders, too, to kill time while they waited for goods.”

Team Kreeda, headed by Vinita, has earlier discovered a number of games in Chennai temples – Kapaleeshwar temple in Mylapore, Keshava Perumal temple on NSC Bose Road, Madhava Perumal temple in Mylapore, Vadivudai Amman temple in Thiruvottriyur, Marundeeshwarar temple in Thiruvanmiyur and Kundrathur Murugan temple are a few famous temples in Chennai where the team discovered ancient board games.