Ancient Indian Boardgames: Digital Documentation

Title (dcterms:title)

Bagh Bandi

Description (dcterms:description)

This game has been recorded by Jatindra Mohan Datta In Basirhat in the 1930s. The name of the informant was Santosh Kumar Ray who explained that he used to play this game in his childhood. According to Jatindra Mohan Datta, the board or the diagram of the game shown here has similarities with the Mughal-Pathan game.

Bagh Bandi or Bagh Chal is played on a board by two players. Often, one players plays with four tigers, while the other has twenty goats. The tigers need to jump over and eat five goats whereas the goat needs to corner all the tigers to win. The game is the national game of Nepal and exists in multiple variations all over South Asia.

In the variation reported by Datta, this game is played with two tigers and thirty-two goats. the goats are placed in a group of eight at points enclosed by circles in the diagram at the beginning of the game. The two tigers are placed or can be placed anywhere on the board. It is then followed by the usual rules of Bagh Chal or Bagh Bandi. In this form, two or more captures are allowed one after the other but not by jumping forward and then backward over the goats.

Alternative Title (dcterms:alternative)

Bagh Bandi, Tigers and Goats, Baghchakkar, Chakrachhal, Sher Bakr, Bagh Batti, Sher Bakar, Kaooa, Bam Blang Beh Khla, Bagha Guti, Tagnor, Adu Puli Attam, Puli Meka, Ada Huli, Terhuchu, Kulaochal

Rules (dcterms:instructionalMethod)

5x5 intersecting lines, with diagonals drawn in the four quadrants of the board. Two triangles, their apices intersecting the main board at opposite midpoints. The bast of the triangle is bisected by a line drawn from the apex, and this line is bisected and intersects with the other two sides of the triangle. One player plays as two tigers, which can be placed anywhere on the board, and the other player plays as 32 goats, which begin on the four central points of the quadrants of the square board, eight per stack. Players alternate turns moving a piece to an empty adjacent spot along the lines. The goats move one at a time from their stacks, and cannot be restacked once they have been moved. The tiger may capture a goat by hopping over it to an empty spot immediately on the opposite side of an adjacent goat. Multiple captures in one turn are allowed, but a tiger cannot hop over a stack of goats and hop over it again in the opposite direction. When tigers hop over a stack of goats, only one goat is captured. The goats win by blocking the tigers from being able to move; the tigers win by capturing all the goats.

Creator (dcterms:creator)

Jatindra Mohan Datta

Source (dcterms:source)

'A New Type of Bagh- Bandi or Tiger- Play Prevalent at Basirhat In Lower Bengal' by Jatindra Mohan Datta in Sedentary Games of India eds. Nirbed Ray and Amitabha Ghosh

Contributor (dcterms:contributor)

Jatindra Mohan Datta

Rights (dcterms:rights)

Creative Commons

Format (dcterms:format)

Boardgames

Medium (dcterms:medium)

Boardgames on Text

References (dcterms:references)

'A New Type of Bagh- Bandi or Tiger- Play Prevalent at Basirhat In Lower Bengal' by Jatindra Mohan Datta in Sedentary Games of India

Bagh Bandi by Digital Ludemi Project

Spatial Coverage (dcterms:spatial)

Basirhat, West Bengal

Variants (dcterms:isVersionOf)

Bagh Chal, Bull Temple (4)

Baghchal, Handmade

Bagh Chal, Ellora

Tarup Ar Merom (leopards and goats)

Kulaochal

Bagh Chal (variant),Odisha

Bagha Chheli ( Odisha)

Baghchakkar or Chakrachal

Sher Bakr

Bagh Batti

Sher Bakar

Kaooa

Taag dha Nor or Tagnor (Tiger and Cow)

Bagh Chal, Kamakhya

Mughal Pathan

Bam Blang Beh Khla

Bagha Guti

Bagh Bandi

Bagh Chal, Bull Temple (4)

Baghchal, Bull Temple (3)

Baghchal, Handmade

Bagh Chal, Pataleshwar (3)

Baghchal, Pataleshwar (2)

Entered by (dcterms:accrualMethod)

Adrija Mukherjee

Tags (dcterms:conformsTo)

Bagh Chal

Tigers and Goats

Alquerque

Sedentary Games

Games of Bengal

Two-player

Capture

Hunt

Shape: Square with 2 triangles