Gånjåpā () 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 f ...

s from the

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n state

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

. It can also refer to the

trick-taking A trick-taking game is a card game, card- or tile-based game in which play of a ''Hand (card games), 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 ...

card game A card game is any game that uses playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, whether the cards are of a traditional design or specifically created for the game (proprietary). Countless card games exist, including famil ...

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, and West Bengal as well as parts of Bangladesh. Patachitra art form is known ...

painted cards. Originated in the 16th century, Ganjaku is a recreational game for male members of the Odia society, primarily villagers, kings and their

court A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between Party (law), parties and Administration of justice, administer justice in Civil law (common law), civil, Criminal law, criminal, an ...

men. Ganjapa is played as "''Chārirångi''" (cards of 4 colors), "''Āṭhårångi''" (cards of 8 colors), "''Dåsårångi''" (cards of 10 colors), "''Bārårångi''" (cards of 12 colors), "''Chåudårångi''" (cards of 14 colors) and "''Sohåḷårångi''" (cards of 16 colors). The variation of this game influenced by

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

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

Puri Puri, also known as Jagannath 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 ca ...

and

Ganjam district Ganjam is a district in the Indian state of Odisha. Ganjam's total area is 8,206 km² (3,168 mi²). The district headquarters is Chhatrapur. Ganjam is divided into three sub-divisions: Chhatrapur, Berhampur, and Bhanjanagar. As of ...

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 Odia 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.At the ...

" (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 emperors of the Mughal Empire, who were all members of the Timurid dynasty ( House of Babur), ruled the empire from its inception on 21 April 1526 to its dissolution on 21 September 1857. They were supreme monarchs of the Mughal Empire i ...

History

The first written document regarding the play dates back to

Mamluk Mamluk or Mamaluk (; (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural); translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave") were non-Arab, ethnically diverse (mostly Turkic, Caucasian, Eastern and Southeastern European) enslaved mercenaries, slave-so ...

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

Topkapı Palace The Topkapı Palace (; ), or the Seraglio, is a large museum and library in the east of the Fatih List of districts of Istanbul, district of Istanbul in Turkey. From the 1460s to the completion of Dolmabahçe Palace in 1856, it served as the ad ...

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 (; 14 February 148326 December 1530; born 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 father and mother respectively. He was also ...

'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 ''Ramayana'' (; ), also known as ''Valmiki Ramayana'', as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics ...

Dasavatar The Dashavatara (, ) 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", and , roughly equivalent t ...

a of

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

god

Vishnu Vishnu (; , , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism, and the god of preservation ( ...

, 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 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 may refer to: Places Africa * Lac Region, a district in Chad * Lac Prefecture, a district in Chad America * Rivière du Lac, a tributary of the Montmorency River, in Capitale-Nationale, Quebec, Canada Europe * Laç, a city in Albania * Lac ...

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

tamarind Tamarind (''Tamarindus indica'') is a Legume, leguminous tree bearing edible fruit that is indigenous to tropical Africa and naturalized in Asia. The genus ''Tamarindus'' is monotypic taxon, monotypic, meaning that it contains only this spe ...

(for yellow) are used to paint figures.

Variations

Gånjapā is played as "''Chārirångi''" (cards of 4 colors or 4 suits in a pack of card), "''Āṭhårångi''" (cards of 8 colors), "''Dåsårångi''" (cards of 10 colors), "''Bārårångi''" (cards of 12 colors), "''Chåudårångi''" (cards of 14 colors) and "''Sohåḷårångi''" (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

French-suited playing cards French-suited playing cards or French-suited cards are playing cards, cards that use the French Playing card suit, suits of (clovers or clubs ), (tiles or diamonds ), (hearts ), and (pikes or spades ). Each suit contains th ...

, "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 King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

and

vizier A vizier (; ; ) is a high-ranking political advisor or Minister (government), minister in the Near East. The Abbasids, Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called ''katib'' (secretary), who was at first merely a help ...

. 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 "chaukå/chekā māṛi båsā"), 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