Arundhati And Saptarishis: An Eight Suited Ninety-Six Card Moghul Ganjifa
Kishor Gordhandas
8 March 2009, 12:06Arundhati and Saptarishis, an eight suited, 96 card Moghul Ganjifa from Raghurajpur, Orissa is a facsimile of an earlier hand painted set made from ivory on hexagon shaped Ganjifa of the same name. The inventory of this 96 cards Ganjifa was first published in IPCS, quarterly, The Playing Card, in Vol. XX, No. 1, dated August 1991 Printed for Deutsches Spielkarten Museum Leinfelden-Echterdingen, in German, published by The International Playing Card Society, London.
The above mentioned 10-page booklet was only ever published in German, with a little less than one page brief summary in English, so this is the first full inventory in English. As researched by Dr. Friedrich Seltmann, these are the only set of Ganjifa cards depicting the old Hinduistic legend of Arundhati, the wife of Vasishtha. When Vasishtha and six wise companions called Rishis (Sages) left for the Himalaya to do penance, a Brahmin came to Arundhati, begging for something to eat. While Arundhati cooked him a meal of badara fruits, he told her myths and parables. Arundhati listened to him attentively and thought neither of hunger nor thirst, and in twelve years she reached more wisdom than her husband and the other Rishis in Himalaya. It turned out that the Brahman was the god Shiva himself!
Some time after receiving the German language booklet and black and white copies of the cards, I contacted two Artists from Orissa and gave them, as far as was possible, descriptions of the cards along with those pictures were available to me. They then produced the two sets of Arundhati and Saptarishis, Moghul Ganjifa of 96 cards of eight suits into 12 cards each, from two which the samples accompanying this article are taken. Both the artists have drawn the figures and painted the sets making use of their knowledge of the Mythology of these Rishis for the style of figures, use of colour, and other details.
Banamali Mahapatra, from Raghurajpur, Orissa, produced his set on 10.00 centimetres in diameter, round, and thick Pattachitra cards .Sitakanta Mahapatra from Berhampur, Orissa, set of 96 cards was on thicker stock and were 7.5 centimetres in diameter. The following are details from the set composed by Sitakanta Mahapatra
First Suit: Arundhati: Arundhati worshipping the Idol with flowers. Suit symbols: Tulsi Kyaro; A plant from the vedic times on Black background.
2nd suit: Vasishtha, the sage worshipping the Shiva Lingam, on white background cards. Suit symbol: Shiva Lingam.
3rd suit: Kashyapa, on orange background. Suit symbol: Head of a sage.
4th suit: Atri, on Blue Background cards. Suit Symbols: Mace.
5th suit: Jamadagni, on red colour background. Suit symbol: Parashu or Axe.
6th suit: Gautama Rishi, on Green Background cards. Suit symbol: Cow.
7th Suit: Vishwamitra, on brown colour background. Suit symbol: Tiger.
8th suit: Bharadwaj:- on Yellow colour background. Suit symbol: Brown coloured Bird.
To help explain the characters and the story of Arundhati and the seven Sages the following details some specifics about each. The description of the card accompanying each character is from the large size Ganjifa Cards painted by Banamali Mahapatra.
Arundhati is the Morning Star. She was the faithful wife of the priest Vasishtha and a model of conjugal excellence. She does not come near the fire (of the Sun) while bathing in the Cold morning, knowing that the Fire (Agni) will make her an adulteress with its hot sparks. On Ganjifa Cards, Arundhati is the first suit and the symbol is Arundharti herself, or a Plant called Tulsi. The Pradhan card shows Arundhati with her colleagues (Sakhi – Girl Friends). The background colour of this suit is orange.
Risi Vasishtha, “Most Wealthy”, one of the seven great Rishis-sages of ancient times, Vasishtha had gained complete control over all the human emotions, such as anger, envy, greed, fear etc. He was the owner of the Cow Nandini that fulfilled all wishes, hence his unlimited wealth.
Son of King Varuna, according to the Vishnu Puranam, Vasishtha had for his wife Urja, daughter of Daksha, while the Bhagwat Purana gives him Arundhati for wife. In this Ganjifa, the Raja and Pradhan cards of the Vasishtha suit are on white background and the Sage is shown worshipping an idol, Shiva Lingam. The suit symbol of the Vasishtha suit is a grey coloured Lingam.
Risi Kashyapa, Kashyapa is one of the seven great Rishis, and he appears as the priest of Parashurama and Ramachandra, respectively, the sixth and seventh incarnations of Vishnu. He is a poet and writer of several hymns in the Veda. Kashyapa means the same as Kurma, a tortoise. One myth relates that Brahma assumed the shape of a Tortoise and made the world, with all human beings descended from Tortoise, reportedly, the most intelligent of all animals. A later incarnation of Vishnu, Vamana, the dwarf was born as a son to Ksahyapa and Aditi. In Ganjifa, Kashyapa is the third suit, and the Raja card shows the priest worshipping the Agni or Fire. Suit symbols are young sages with bowed hands, and the cards have a pink coloured background.
Risi Atri, was a Rishi and author of many vedic hymns. In the Puranas, he was father of Soma or Chandra (Moon). and the aesthetic Dattatreya by his wife Anasuya. As a Rishi, he is one of the stars of the Great Bear constellation. In Ganjifa cards, his son Dattatreya is depicted on the Raja card and the Pradhan card shows Dattatreya being carried by a winged and a tailed animal, that is also the suit symbol, on a rust brown colour background.
Risi Jamadagni was a Brahman and a descendant of Bhrigu. He was the father of five sons, the the most renowned of which was the youngest one Parashurama. Parashurama is the sixth Avatara of Vishnu, in Dashavatara Ganjifa cards. The Mahabharata relates that Jamadagni engaged deeply in study and obtained “entire possession of the Vedas”. Once, King Kartavirya forcibly took away Jamadagni’s beautiful and extremely resourceful cow, Parashurama followed the king and killed him. Jamadagni, however, admonished his son saying that it was the duty of Brahmanas to be merciful and forgiving. Later the king’s sons wanting to take revenge, but not being able to harm Parashurama, killed Jamadagni instead. He was however brought back to life by Prashurama, who had learned this art from his father. On Ganjifa cards, against a blue background, the Raja card shows Jamadagni’s son, Parashurama with his parashu (Axe) in his hand. The Pradhan card shows the Rishi Jamadagni being driven in a chariot while a Sage with a weapon in his hand is the suit symbol.
Risi Gautama was the don of the sage Gotama, and the husband of Ahalya. The Ramayana has a story showing that Indra was believed to have been guilty of gross immorality, the seduction of the wife of his spiritual leader. He is said to have visited the house of Gautama, in the form of a sage hoping to be mistaken by the preceptor’s wife for her husband who was absent from home. But although Ahalya knew him to be Indra, she yielded to his wishes. As Indra was about to leave, Gautama entered. And knowing what had happened, cursed the God (Indra) and his wife (Ahalya). Indra, in consequence lost his manhood, and Ahalya was doomed to live for many years invisible in a forest until Rama should come to restore her to her former state. the Raja and Pradhan cards of this deck show the sage Gautama with his cow and the numeral cards show the Kamadhenu Cow (Wish Fulfilling Cow) as suit symbol against a Grey background..
Risi Vishwamitra was a celebrated sage, who was born Kshatriya, but by intense austerities raised himself to the Brahman caste and became one of the seven great rishis. He was the son of King Gadhi of Kanyakubja. Once out on a hunt, he happened to reach the hermitage of the great sage Vasishtha and there he saw the cow Nandini which could fulfill any wishes expressed to it. He wanted to take this cow back with him but Vasishtha would not part with it at any cost. When he decided to take it away by force the divine cow, through the grace of Vasishtha, produced from its body an array of warriors who put Vishwamitra’s entire army to flight without harming any of his soldiers. It was then that Vishwamitra acknowledged the supremacy of Vedic knowledge and the Brahmanic way of life over that of Kshatriya might.
At one time Vishwamitra decided to perform austerities, until Indra worried over his perfection, sent a nymph to him, an Apsara of extraordinary beauty called Menaka. She succeeded in seducing the ascetic and gave birth in due course to a daughter, Shakuntala. At last the Gods granted him the status of a Brahman and he was reconciled with his rival, Vasishtha. The Raja and Pradhan of the Vishwamitra suitare set against a green background and has a tiger as its suit symbol.
Risi Bharadwaja is the seventh Rishi of the Saptarishis. An arch-priest and one of the greatest poets ever lived, with the majority of the magnificent hymns of the Vedas being attributed to him. He was the son of Brihaspati and the father of Dronacharya. He was the Guru of the Pandavas. He received Rama and Sita in his hermitage at Prayaga which became a place of pilgrimage. The Raja Card shows him telling a story to some children, and the Pradhan card shows a eagle-like white bird carrying the sage with a rosary in his hand. The background colour of this suit is mustard yellow.
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