Thoda (Indian Martial Archery)
Folk archery game from Himachal Pradesh: one side dances and dodges, the other shoots wooden-headed arrows below the knee. Sides pasha and saatha trace their origin to the Mahabharata.
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About Thoda (Indian Martial Archery)
Thoda, also thoda ka khel, is a folk archery game of Himachal Pradesh that sources call a sport, a dance and a martial art. According to The Tribune, it is played between two groups, pasha and saatha, who consider themselves descendants of the Pandavas and Kauravas of the Mahabharata. One group dances, dodges and kicks with its feet, and the other aims arrows at its calves, with rules forbidding aiming above the knees. The arrow has a round piece of wood instead of a point. We have not found a founder or a year of origin. In 2019 the agency IANS described thoda as a sport about 120 years old. According to The Tribune, it is played in several places in the mountains around Shimla, for example in Theog, Narkanda and Chaupal, and in the districts of Sirmaur and Solan, and according to one account it originated around Kullu. It is played at local fairs during the year, according to The Tribune at Baisakhi and in June at the Shoolini fair in Solan, according to the agency IANS at the Anokhi Dali fair near Shimla exactly one month after Diwali. Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh Virbhadra Singh announced in 2015 that thoda would be included among rural games. According to PTI, the Himachal Pradesh state tournament was held for the first time since 1988, after 34 years, with 48 teams. It was organised by the Himachal Pradesh Thoda Games and Cultural Association.
History
According to the daily The Tribune from 2006, thoda ka khel, an archery game in which the target is a dancing person, is played between two groups, pasha and saatha, who see themselves as descendants of the Pandavas and the Kauravas. According to the same article, thoda arose, according to some, around Kullu, according to others in the interior of the Shimla hills, and it is played in Theog, Narkanda, Chaupal, Sirmaur and Solan, among other places. It is also called bishu, elsewhere it is celebrated at the festival of Baisakhi, and it is a two-day yearly fair. The weekly Organiser said in 2023 that thoda may be a symbolic depiction of the war described in the Mahabharata. According to The Tribune, the performers, collectively called khashiya, are from the Thakur clan. Villages set up thoda committees, which invite the khashiya to perform. The agency IANS described thoda in 2019 as a sport about 120 years old.
How it differs
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh announced in 2015, according to IANS, that thoda competitions would be held like kabaddi and kho-kho among rural games. According to The Tribune, the target is a dancing person.
Technique
According to the daily The Tribune, the bow is about seven feet long with a three-foot string, and a round piece of wood is attached to the end of the arrow. According to The Tribune from 2024, a wooden round head replaces the sharp point, and each team tries to hit the opponent's leg below the knee, while the defenders dance, kick their legs or dodge to the side.
Training
According to The Tribune, the khashiya wrap their legs in layers of patti cloth or wear thick trousers under coarse salwar or suthan trousers, a short naltoo shirt and sturdy boots, so that they do not get hurt. They dance into the arena with the dangroo axe to the music of the dhol, nagara, shehnai and narsingh. The agency PTI states that the players have their legs wrapped in thick cloth.
Competition
According to the daily The Tribune, one group dances, dodges and kicks its legs while the other aims arrows at its calves. The rules forbid aiming above the knees, and whoever breaks them is playfully attacked with the dangroo axe. Points are scored and the winners are proclaimed true khund, that is, warriors. According to PTI, the Himachal Pradesh state tournament had last been held in 1988. After 34 years, 48 teams played in it and the winner was to receive 2 lakh rupees and a trophy.
Today
At the Shoolini fair in Solan, thoda was, according to The Tribune, the main event of the second day in June 2024, played by four teams from Theog, Sirmaur and Kyonthal. In 2019 IANS described the two-day Anokhi Dali fair in the Jubbarhatti area near Shimla, held every year exactly one month after Diwali. According to PTI, a state tournament was held again after 34 years, organised by the Himachal Pradesh Thoda Games and Cultural Association, with 48 teams playing. According to the weekly Organiser, thoda was the main attraction of Pahari Day in Shimla in 2023, organised by the Department of Language, Art and Culture of the Himachal Pradesh government.
Did you know
According to The Tribune, the Himachali tradition says there were sixty Kauravas, not one hundred, and therefore their descendants are called saatha, while the five Pandavas are pasha. According to the same article, the name thoda is explained in three ways: from thod, a raised platform where the khashiyas sacrifice, from a round piece of wood on an arrow, or from thuda, the lower limbs that are aimed at. According to a local resident cited by IANS, the game spread on an instruction that, by tradition, a local priest received in a dream from Narasimha, the fourth avatar of Vishnu.
Frequently asked questions
Where do they shoot in thoda?
According to The Tribune, at the opponent's legs below the knee. The rules forbid aiming above the knees, and the arrow has a round piece of wood instead of a point.
When is thoda played?
At local fairs through the year. According to The Tribune, on the festival of Baisakhi and in June at the Shoolini fair, according to the agency IANS at the Anokhi Dali fair near Shimla a month after Diwali.
What do the names pasha and saatha mean?
According to the Himachal tradition cited by The Tribune, pasha are descendants of the five Pandavas and saatha descendants of the Kauravas, of whom, according to it, there were sixty.
Similar styles
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