Playing Cards Of The Chitrashala Press
Kishor Gordhandas
30 January 2009, 17:06The Chitrashala Press was located in Pune, in West Central India in Maharashtra State, where the language spoken is Marathi. Pune is a district administrative and commercial centre with automotive works and other factories. There are several palaces, and temples from the 17th and 18th centuries dating from when Pune was the capital of Marathas. The name of this press is derived from the Devnagari words Chitra (Art, Picture) and Shala (School), and the most recent address- (Late Eighties) was: 562 Sadashiv Peth, Pune – 2, but alas, the press seems to have ceased the business in the 1980’s. Two important packs of cards were printed by the Chitrashala Press; the first being a Children’s educational pack of 52 card and Jokers, and the second one , an unusual 120 Cards- printed Dashavatara Ganjifa Cards. So far, there have been only Four Printed Ganjifa sets; these are 120 cards Dashavatara Ganjifa, printed in Pune. Ca. 1940; A facsimile pack of 18th century Dashavatara Ganjifa of Sheopur, printed by a Playing cards Collector, in 1981, in Italy, with a booklet in Italian language, and two more Moghul Ganjfas of 96 cards each, again from the original sets in Fournier Museum Spain, and printed by them in the years 2004.
The Children’s Alphabetical Pack
This pack probably dates from 1940 and is cheaply printed with minor mistakes such as the inversion of the hearts symbol on the ace of hearts. The writing on the box is in Marathi and translates as Sachitra Patte ‘(Pictured Playing cards)’ while on the top, it says Mulakshara (Original Words!). The two flaps of the box reads, ‘Pictorial’ and Bal Bhet – ‘Children’s Gift’. Down the sides of the box is written Akshara Patte – ‘Alphabetical Cards’ on one side, while the other side reads Khelanyache Patte -‘Playing Cards’. At least three different editions of the playing cards were printed; two with Marathi text and a third edition with Urdu script. I am lucky to have all the three above mentioned packs!
The First Marathi Edition:
The pack has two objectives, namely a game for fun coupled with an educational aspect, As might be expected from an art school pack, the intricacy of the overall design couples with the teaching of reading and arithmetic in an overall pleasing fashion so that learning may be enjoyed. The basic pattern of the numeral cards is a central picture illustrating a word that is written in Marathi on the top right of the card while the letter with which the word begins is shown on the top left. On the bottom left of the card is a number corresponding to the value of a numeral playing card drawn in the bottom right corner but there are no Arabic number indices on the cards.
The Kings and the Queens (showing a Maharaja and a Maharani) of the black suits, (Spades and Clubs) have different designs to those of the red suits but the Jacks are the same for all the four suits. There is no central picture and the appropriate suit sign is shown on the top right. The Marathi letter is shown on the top left; and on the right, alongside this letter, is the descriptive word for the picture that appears on the particular card.
The letter and the numeral are printed in the opposing colour to that of the suit sign which is enclosed in a small rectangular without any Arabic numeral on the bottom right. This colour scheme is seen on all the 52 cards of this pack, which adds to the artistic balance of the overall design of the card. The court cards, have the appropriate Roman letter, i. e., K, Q, and J printed above the small format of rectangular on the bottom right, possibly for several reasons such as: to make the pack usable by Non-Indians, to familiarize the players with European court cards. The child could learn to associate visually both the letter and the word and also the number and the playing cards and so learn, with the same pack, the arts of reading, writing and arithmetic while at the same time enjoying a game!
The back design of the earlier of the Marathi editions shows a boy making a card house. The illustrations on the numeral cards show diverse subjects including boats, steam trains, rivers, fruit, animals, tools etc. the two nameless jokers in this pack show a running boy and a clown showing a card in one hand and the other with the spread of a few cards. The Ace of Spades show the writing of Chitrashala Press Poona.
The second Marathi Edition :
A second edition of the Marathi Pack of cards was printed with new illustrations for the court cards while following the layout of the earlier pack. Major change was that all the court cards were different for each suit by contrast to the first edition in which the black suits share the same designs with the red suits. The complete set of illustrations were also used for the Urdu Edition, with some differences in the colouration. The back design is of floral pattern and this is the rarest of the Marathi Packs of cards.
The Urdu Edition:
The Urdu edition shares the same dual objectives of the Marathi Packs. This pack might have been intended to be sold to a local Urdu-speaking population at the time of printing in Maharashtra or beyond that region. One major difference between the Urdu and Marathi packs is that in Urdu edition the letter and the name of the subject/object is written where space permits and not as in the format of the Marathi cards. The cards printed with Urdu text show characteristic features of the Muslim culture such as a mosque on 7 of Clubs and a bear on the 2 of Diamonds, whereas in the Marathi version this is a Maharishi or Yogi. The court cards have the same images as the second Marathi edition. but have different coloration and sky backdrop that is not present on the Marathi cards. The Ace of Spades features a bell and the Playing-card lacks mention of Chitrashala Press. The letter present on the Marathi court cards is also sometimes missing.
The Urdu Ace of Hearts shows a King, probably the King Akbar, who was the Moghul Emperor between 1556 and 1605, whereas in Marathi packs, the Ace of Hearts shows a kite and the figure 1. There are other differences of this nature reflecting cultural differences. The other difference is that the back of this Urdu pack of cards has a blue and white back design within its centre with the monogram C. S. P. – standing for Chitrashala Press.
This Chitrashala Press Playing Cards is a classic item and a collectible among we, playing cards collectors. I have sent hundreds of this pack – Marathi, First Edition – to many collectors, playing card Museums and dealers in playing cards here in India and abroad. Although printed on cheap quality card stock, the idea is a kind of unique one and it is believed that this pack was actually helpful to the children in understanding the Devnagari alphabet (Barakhadi) along with the study of the coloured pictures explaining the them.
When on my trip to Pune and Aurangabad and Sawantwadi for the purpose of acquiring some Ganjifa Cards, in around 1986/87, I was fortunate to acquire the last few uncut sheets of this Alphabetical pack. These were then carefully cut and the 52 and 2 Jokers sets were ready placed n the printed boxes that were also supplied with the sheets. If anyone now finds this pack for sale anywhere, or through any other sources, that would be his/her luck! Needless to say, this pack has been very much appreciated abroad by Museums and collectors alike.
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