Gilli Danda...🤘

Introduction:

Gilli Danda is a game played by a group of minimum 4 boys aged 8 years and above. It is a popular game in all parts of rural India with variations in name and scoring method. This game is precursor to the game of cricket where the ball is replaced with Gilli. Gilli Danda is known by different names in different parts of India. In Tamil it is known as Kitti Pul, in Bengali as Danguli, in Kannada as Chinni Dandu, in Marathis as Viti Dandu, in Telegu as Gooti Billa etc.

How to Play:

The players are divided in two teams to play this game – the hitter team and the opponent team.   To play this game, one needs a long stick named as danda, and a short stick with tapered ends, generally known as gilli. The danda is used to flick the short gilli into the air, and hit again to make it travel to a maximum distance. In case the hitter is unable to flick the gilli, their turn gets over after three chances. The hitter’s score is measured by the distance from the place where he hit the gilliand the place it landed, measured by the danda.  The opposing team has to try and catch the gilliwhile it is up in the air.  If the opposing team catches the gilli, then the hitter ends his turn.  

  As kids, all of us have plenty of fond memories of the games we used to play after school hours and during holidays, be it indoor or outdoor games. Today, most of the outdoor games played then are almost extinct, with some on the verge of being forgotten thanks to our busy lifestyle and also the urbanisation which has taken up most of the playgrounds and empty spaces that were so abundant. One such game which is forgotten due to a lack of space to play in is Gilli Danda, or Chinni Dandu as it is called in Kannada.

The game is played between two teams with one team on strike while the other fields. It can also be played by individual players. A small circle is drawn and the striker (the one who hits the gilli) stands inside the circle with the gilli placed across a small hole dug up on the ground . Sometimes the gilli may be balanced on a stone in an inclined position, with one end touching the ground and the other in air. The fielders take various positions to catch the gilli.

The other team bats in the same way and the team with the highest points wins the game. The game is also played in many variations and the scoring depends on how many times the gilli was hit in the air. If the player strikes the gilli two times in the air, the points get doubled.

Fortunately, this game is still  played in Mysuru and its surrounding villages, especially in its extensions and outskirts where there is plenty of space for youngsters to play. It is traditionally played between two teams belonging to different villages and also during village fairs and festivals.The game is also dangerous as sometimes the gilli hits passersby or the players resulting in grievous injuries which sometimes can be fatal.

Rules of the game :

"Gilli Danda" is played with two pieces of equipment – a danda, being a long wooden stick, and a gilli, a small oval-shaped piece of wood.

Standing in a small circle, the player balances the gilli on a stone in an inclined manner (somewhat like a see-saw) with one end of the gilli touching the ground while the other end is in the air. The player then uses the danda to hit the gilli at the raised end, which flips it into the air. While it is in the air, the player strikes the gilli, hitting it as far as possible. Having struck the gilli, the player is required to run and touch a pre-agreed point outside the circle before the gilli is retrieved by an opponent. There are no specific dimensions of gilli danda and it does not have limited number of players.

The gilli becomes airborne after it is struck. If a fielder from the opposing team catches the gilli, the striker is out. If the gilli lands on the ground, the fielder closest to the gilli has one chance to hit the danda (which has to be placed on top of the circle used) with a throw (similar to a run out in cricket). If the fielder is successful, the striker is out; if not, the striker scores one point and gets another opportunity to strike. The team (or individual) with the most points wins the game. If the striker fails to hit the gilli in three tries, the striker is out (similar to a strikeout in baseball). After the gilli has been struck, the opposing players need to return to the circle or, in the best case, catch it in mid-air without its hitting the ground – this was believed to have later evolved into a Catch Out in cricket and baseball.

In popular culture :

In 2014 Vitti Dandu a sport-drama Marathimovie was made on the same sport produced by Ajay Devgan and Leena Deore.

The Bollywood movie Lagaan mentions the traditional youth sport of gilli-danda as being similar to cricket.

The Hindi writer Premchand wrote a short story named "Gilli-danda" in which he compares old simple times and emotions to modern values and also hints at caste inequalities in India. The protagonist and narrator of the story recounts his inability to play gilli-danda well in his youth. He remembers a friend who could control the gilli as he wished. He goes away and comes back as an adult and a government officer. He searches for his old friend and finds him – he is very poor and says "Where do we get the time?" when asked by the protagonist whether he plays gilli-danda. The protagonist convinces him to play – he cheats at every opportunity, but his friend meekly submits, even though he would not have let him get away with such deceit in his youth. After being defeated, the friend invites him to a gilli-danda match the next day. The protagonist is shocked when he sees his friend play just as well as before and realises that he had indulged him because he knew that he had forgotten the basics of gilli-danda. The protagonist feels very small and goes back to the city humiliated.^[10]

The 1934 Laurel & Hardy film Babes in Toylandfeatures Laurel playing the US version of the game, which he refers to as "Pee Wee."