Manipur - The exact origin of modern Polo - I —International approval—

Manipur: “What do you find when you get there?” “You will find a little paradise on earth” (EM Somerville, Imphal, 1962). And the world will also find the birthplace of MODERN POLO.

Manipur as the exact origin of “modern polo” has been approved by the polo pundits of the world beyond a shadow of doubt.

The contemporary game of polo was born in Manipur over 2,000 years ago, as recorded in Cheitharol Kumbaba – ‘Royal Chronicle’ (33-1897 CE) of Manipur. It is now revived and flourishing in Manipur as shown by the forthcoming international polo tournament on November 24-29, 2012 in Imphal – the capital of Manipur.

Manipur, as the bona fide origin of the modern sport of polo has been accepted by the Hurlingham Polo Association (HPA) – the governing body of polo in the UK, Ireland and many other countries. The American Westchester polo club – the parent body of the American polo also accepts Manipur as the genuine origin.

The Guinness Book of Records (1991 edition p 288) traces the origin of polo to Manipur circa 3100 BCE, where it was played as Sagol Kangjei.

Edward “Chicken” Hartopp of The British Army’s 10th Hussars at Aldershot near London, introduced polo in England in 1869 after reading about it in a Field Manual magazine. It was then named “Hockey on horseback”.The formal rules drawn up in 1874 by the governing body known as the Hurlingham Polo Association still exist with some minor changes such as limitation of the number of players to five on a team and they include the offside rule.

The Rules of modern Equestrian Sport of Polo, as approved by the Federation of International Polo (FIP) are similar to the Rules of Sagol Kangjei, with some changes over the years. For example: a player (1) can hook an opponent’s mallet; (2) push him off the line by shoulder to shoulder contact; (3) bump him with his horse; (5) or steal the ball from him.

Manipuris are very grateful to the British who made Sagol Kangjei famous worldwide in the name of polo.

There were many speculations about the exact origin of polo worldwide, from Persia, Mongolia and Afghanistan to China. The area of polo was so vast that historians have been unable to establish where the sport originated. Experts now agree that the modern game of polo definitely originated in Manipur. It was in Manipur, where polo sticks first met the ball as it is played now.

As a matter of interest in its antiquity, in a debate in the House of Lords of the British Parliament, on the trial of Crown Prince Tikendrajit of Manipur on June 22 1891, soon after the British conquest of Manipur, the Marques of Ripon introduced Manipur as “the birthplace of the game of polo”.

Jubraj Tikendrajit was a legendary polo player. Ethel Grimwood, the wife of the Political Agent Frank Grimwood posted in Manipur in1889, adored watching the Crown Prince playing the game on the polo ground (worthy of Hurlingham according to her husband), “sending the ball skimming half across the ground with one hit was a pretty sight”.

Ethel admired the “picturesque dress” Tikendrajit was wearing for polo; “a green velvet zouave [a French Algerian Light infantry uniform] jacket edged with gold buttons, salmon pink silk dhotee with white leather leggings and a pink silk turban, riding a beautiful horse”.

“The Maharaja rode a beautiful pony on a gold saddle, with large flaps on each side to protect his legs, also of gold. The pony’s bridle was also made of gold cord” (Ethel Grimwood, My Three Years in Manipur, 1891, 1975 edition pp 38, 39).

In Manipur itself, we owe its revival to the ceaseless efforts of the Manipur Polo Association, established in 1955, and the Manipur Horse Riding and Polo Association (MHRPA). I have known the tireless works of Moirangthem Shantikumar (Retd IGP, Manipur police), who along with his friends in the MHRPA, has also been trying to save the endangered species of Manipuri ponies at a small ranch at Lamphel pat, and his deceased father Gojendra, with whom I played a few games of polo in the early 60s at the rectangular Imphal polo ground.

Most Manipuris are aware as to how the game originated in Manipur. This article is simply to reiterate what is already well known in a concise format, for the benefit of the youngsters in Manipur and elsewhere in the world.

Manipur is now one of the eight sister states in Northeast India, which are all inhabited by oriental-looking folks. It was a tiny independent country that existed for over 2000 years except during a brief period of British occupation for 56 years after 1891.

Manipur nestles among the uneven rolling green Himalayan mountain ranges with occasional blue peaks dipping in the white cloud, as they sweep from the Indus valley in the west to the northern side of Assam and to Manipur in the east. It shares a 271 mile (398 km) international border with Myanmar in the east.

Manipur was once described in 1931 by Lord Irwin, the Viceroy of India as “Switzerland of India”. Lord Curzon, just before he became the Viceroy, visited Manipur in 1910 and watched the game at the Outer polo ground. He measured the ground (225 yards long and 110 yards wide) and was impressed by its size and the quality of its turf.

The majestic game of polo was born in the equally majestic fertile green valley of Imphal River, as it meandered from north to south, finally encumbering itself into the comforting bosom of the Loktak lake – the biggest fresh water lake in the Northeast of India.

Polo is called Sagol kangjei in Manipur. According to the narrative in Kangjeirol (the story of Kangjei) and Ningthou Kangbalon (the account of King Kangba), King Kangba, who was the first known ruler of Manipur (1405-1359 BCE) introduced the game, and thus the name “Sagol Kangjei”; Sagol = horse, Kang-jei (corrupted from Kang-chei) = Kangba’s stick.

Later, 2000 years ago (33 CE), during the reign of King Pakhangba (33-153 CE), according to Cheitharol Kumbaba (Joychandra, transliteration, The Lost Kingdom 1955), the game was played in Manipur with seven players a side. Manipur has the oldest living pologround - Mapal Kangjei bung (Outer polo ground) in the world.

In Manipur, a player mounted on a “Manipuri pony” (about 4½. ft = 13 hands high), was equipped with a 4-4 ½ feet long kanghu or polo stick, made of seasoned cane, the far end of which is fitted at an angle of 12-13 degrees, into a drilled hole of a rounded striking head of about 9 inches long, made of hard timber from the wild oak tree, locally known as ‘Uyung’, for hitting the ball sideways. The ball (kangdrum) was made of seasoned bamboo root with a diameter of 3-3½ inches and was painted white.

A Manipuri pony is unique in that it is very tough, plucky and stylish as it is a breed of warhorses. It is easily manoeuvred and so strong that no change of ponies was needed between the ‘chukkas’ (chukker in Argentina) from the Hindi word chukker, meaning round, of seven Minutes.

All polo horses are called ‘ponies’ because originally the height of the mount was restricted to 13.3 hands – the average height of a pony. The British used to play the game on these ponies, until the Americans changed all that and removed the height restrictions in 1916.

Sagol kangjei was a seasonal game played every year lasting about nine months – from September/October to June/July. The inconsistent season was theoretically, to fall between Lai cheppa (when gods go to sleep), June to July, and Lai Lengkhatpa (when gods wake up), September to October. But in practice, it was to avoid unfavourable Monsoon weather for playing polo. There was no limit to the number of players but usually limited to a dozen on each side, or preferably seven, as 7 is an auspicious number in Manipuri culture

The game of polo became natural to the Manipuris during peace time as almost everybody owned a pony or two, which they used only for riding into war. According to GE Harvey, “Manipur was famous for its ponies. In those days every man however humble his rank, possessed two or three Ponies, played forty aside, was universal and made them all expert horsemen” (Harvey, History of Burma, 1824, 1925 edition, p208).

There were no goal posts. A goal was scored by a team when the ball crossed the end line of the ground on the opposite side. The teams came from six “panas” - the arbitrary political districts of the Imphal valley, introduced during the reign of King Khagemba - the conqueror of Khagis ie Chinese (1597-1652).

The game was thus called ‘pana kangjei’. Each pana team had a distinctive colour of attire. The players were dressed in white knee-length pheijom (dhoti), a tight short-sleeved cotton jacket and a white turban that was fastened with a coloured chin strap, made of a length of cloth. They wore padded leggings but no shoes and their naked feet rested on the solid iron foot plates of the stirrups.

The pana kangjei was always a serious game. To the Meiteis the kangjeibung was like a battlefield where one had to play with determined commitments to protect the honour of the pana as they would do at a battlefield to protect the honour of Manipur. In this, the fearless Manipuri ponies would not let them down. In the old days, almost every village had a polo ground of varying sizes, the average size being of 160 ‘sana lamjei’ long and 80 sana lamjei wide (1 sana lamjei = 6 feet, a Manipuri yardstick).

A player’s left hand held the braided leather crop along with the braided bridle, while his right hand held the polo stick. The Manipuri saddle made of light wood had a large toughened leather flap, suspended on each side, the front and back edges curved partially towards each other to protect the legs from the flying balls. The horse also had protective colourful pom-poms of soft cotton wool, about the size of a golf ball, dangling around its head and backside.

No left-handed players were allowed in a team for their safety.

The winning pana teams were awarded prize money, jobs or lands by the Maharaja. Those were big incentive also, to take the game seriously.

The writer is based in the UK

Email: imsingh@onetel.com

Website: www.drimsingh.co.uk

5-Aug-2012 / 02:25 AM / Dr Irengbam Mohendra Singh / 1 Comments