The Printed Dashavatara 120 Card Ganjifa Pack
Kishor Gordhandas
11 December 2008, 22:44The Chitrashala Press of Pune, Maharashtra produced their Children’s Alphabetical Pack of 52 cards and Jokers, French-suited cards circa 1940-1945. At about the same time the Printing Press Company published a very unusual and interesting, chromolithographed, 120 card Dashavatara Ganjifa pack. Prior to the publication of this printed pack, Ganjifa cards were hand painted, often with gold detailing, on materials that ranged from tortoise shell and ivory to stiffened cloth, or layers of scrap paper. And even now artists all over India still mostly paint the Ganjifa cards with vegetable colours. This pack of 120 cards published by Chitrashala Press is probably the first Ganjifa pack to be produced by modern printing techniques on cardboard, rather than the traditional methods, with the result that the designs are more finely detailed and clearer.
Ganjifa is a trick-taking game with no trump suit, and is played by three or four players. The Dashavatara pack is a Hindu version of the Moghul Ganjifa pack and has 120 Round cards divided into 10 suits of 12 cards each, representing the 10 Avatars or incarnations of Vishnu. Dashavatara Ganjifa cards are said to have originated in the Deccan in the 17th Century. In this Chitrashala pack, the ten suits, each named after an avatara, are: Matsya (suit sign is fish), Kurma (turtle), Varaha (boar), Narasimha (lion), Vamana (a water pot), Parashurama (axe), Rama (bow and arrow), Krishna (discus), Buddha (conch shell), and Kalkin (saber). In each suit, there are two court cards and ten numeral cards. The highest value court cards are Rajas and below them are the Pradhan. The Raja cards show scenes from the avataras in which the God, Vishnu, is shown in blue. All the Pradhan Cards in this Ganjifa are on horsebacks.
The Booklet And The Box
These printed Dashavatara Ganjifa cards were packaged in a square cardboard box that has Marathi printing on the front and the lid. A 16 page booklet on the Ganjifa game appears to have also been available. This booklet, Ganjifancha Khel, (Game of Ganjifa) was written in the Marathi language by Shri Bhagwan Gangadhar Pande of Hivre, District Yeotmal, (Now in Maharashtra State) and was also published by the Chitrashala Press. It seems to have been produced a little later than the actual pack of Ganjifa Cards. For although date of the publication isn’t given, it is assumed to be from the late 1950’s or early 1960’s. The booklet has an introductory note in Marathi which is as follows, translated into English.
Introductory Note
The game of Ganjifa has been in vogue for hundreds of years. It was played during the time of the Peshwas. During the reign of Bajirao II, this game was brought to Vidarbha, primarily in Mahur Village of Kimwat District of Marathawada. There the king Udaram Jagjivanram used to play Ganjifa and he taught Dashavatara Ganjifa to his staff and his family. From Mahur Village, the game came to Pune District.
(Authors note: At our place, our Guru, Shri Bhau Dev and Nan Dev, and their father Vishnudev, were expert players of Ganjifa. They taught the game to our grandfather, uncle and father and we in turn learnt the game from our uncle, the late Shri Bapusaheb Pande. He made us practice and learn the rules of the game, which is why I am so conversant with Ganjifa.)
The Cards
The cards of this printed set measure 2 3/4 inches in diameter and were originally produced in packs with either a black, or a red coloured back. One notable feature of all the Raja and Pradhan cards is that the lower segment of the design features the initials in Marathi, Chi. Sha. Pre. standing for Chitrashala Press. By contrast, the early painted packs in some cases have been discretely initialled by the artist (As in the case of Na, Ra, Kelkar for Narayana Rajaram Kelkar, Sawantwadi, late 19th or early 20th century). The Chitrashala Pack promotes the publisher in a prominent position on the card. This part of the design is in black, yellow and green and is separated from the upper part of the card by a thick red line (Patta).
The Order of the Avataras puts Krishna in the eighth suit, a combination that appears only in the cards of Sawantwadi in Maharashtra and Sheopur in Madhya Pradesh. All the Pradhans are shown riding on white horses, some facing in the right and others in the left, while the Raja cards show scenes from the ten Avataras as follows:
- Matsya: Vishnu emerging from the mouth of a fish. His body colour is blue and he is holding a Shankh, mace and Khadga with the fourth hand holding the hair of the running demon, Hatyagriva, who has a sword and shield in his hand.
- Kurma: Similar to Matsya but with Vishnu emerging from mouth of a large turtle. The demon is running ahead of Vishnu.
- Varaha: The blue-coloured Vishnu is shown with a boar’s head holding chakra, mace and sword in his hands. Clad in a brown dhoti and a white dopatta, he makes a running attack on the demon Hiranyaksha.
- Narasimha: Incarnation of Vishnu as a man/lion and shown enthroned and tearing up Hiranya-Kashyap with both hands on his knees.
- Vaman: Vishnu as the dwarf, avatara is shown on the left holding a Chhatri (umbrella) in one hand, with the other hand extended. Facing him is King Bali, seated on his throne and who is in the process of pouring Ganges water from a water vessel, on to Vishnu’s extended hand.
- Parashurama: Vishnu is shown as the blue Martial Brahman with bow and arrow attacking the Kshatriya King Kartavya with his axe (Parashu). The thousand-armed villain is clad with reddish coat and yellow dhoti.
- Rama: The hero God, Vishnu, is blue coloured and with both arms aims an arrow on his bow to the ten-headed demon, Ravana, shown with a white coat and brown dhoti with a sword and shield in his hands.
- Krishna: The blue God is shown having a mace, conch and sword in his hands, aimed at the seated demon, Kamsa, who is shown in brown coat and yellow dhoti.
- Kalkin: The tenth Avatara yet to arrive shows a blue-coloured God with four arms and a red dhoti. He holds a bow and an arrow and a sword in his hands. There is a white horse with an umbrella over the saddle behind the God.
On a visit to Pune in 1986/1987, I was offered the last of the uncut sheets of the printed Ganjifa Cards. Today, the Chitrashala Press, alas, is no more. During the last few years, I have sent many printed sets to collectors including one to the Hasta Shilpa Trust Village’s Ganjifa Cards Gallery, Manipal, which is not yet officially open.
Apart form the above mentioned Printed Dashavatara Ganjifa of 120 cards there are a few more printed sets of Ganjifa, but produced during the last 28 to 30 years. I have three commercially printed sets of Ganjifa Cards. The first one is a facsimile of a painted Dashavatara Ganjifa of 120 cards form the 18th century. Two others worth mentioning are the Moghul Ganjifa of 96 cards. The original sets belong to the Fournier Museum of Playing Cards in Vitoria, Spain and were printed in Spain in 2004.
Whereas the Chitrashala Press cards were the first printed Dashavatara Ganjfa of 120 cards, the latter three Ganjifas were all printed recently, and are facsimile of earlier painted Ganjifa cards, but all four make a worthy addition to any collection.
i like this art very much
— kiran jagtap · Dec 20, 20:42 · #
I wish to procure one pack of Dashavatar. Where can I get it (preferably in Pune or around)
I will be obliged if you help
— KK Deshmukh · Oct 12, 16:32 · #
Comment 2. Are they still available and if so how much and how do I order them?
— Ann Duus · Aug 10, 12:59 · #