Kancha: Symbolising the Golden Era of our Childhood

Remember how you used to carry marbles (kancha) in your pocket as a young child, as if the pockets were designed to hold those beautiful marbles? How you used to keep adding those little glass spheres, some clear, others with a different color in them, to your proud collections to make others jealous. How often have you held those red and blue marbles up to the lights to see how the world changes? Marbles were the emotion of every nukkad in the village.

Kancha Game. Image Credits: Fall in Sports

Games and sports have always played an important role in India's rich culture and history. Unfortunately, children, today are so engrossed in video games that traditional games such as Pallanguzi, Lippa, Kabaddi, and Gilli-danda are about to vanish. Those were the golden days when children couldn't wait to get outside and play with the colorful kancha or marble.

The origin of Marble still remains unknown. Traces of marble have been found in the ashes of Pompeii and it is believed that even Native Americans also used to play with marble. Marble is thought to have evolved from cave people playing with small pebbles or natural clay balls. People have been playing marbles and games similar to marbles for thousands of years. Even though the origin of Kancha is uncertain, Indians have been using them as their source of entertainment for centuries now. One can easily find these marble at every Indian household but especially in the houses of tribal communities of Tripura. They are fond of playing with marbles. Several games of very mindful strategies have been invented by them such as Hankush, Kargil, Gironti, etc.

Marbles are used in a variety of games with different rules. In one of the most popular marble games, a stick or stone is used to draw a circle on the ground about 2-3 feet in diameter. Each player contributes two marbles at the start of the game. The marbles are all arranged in a circle in the center. Then a line is drawn almost three feet away from the hole to decide who will go first. Then one by one the players throw their marbles into the holes standing behind the second line. The person whose marble is closest to the hole is the first to play, followed by the person whose marble is the second closest, and so on.

To begin the game, the player shoots the marbles. To shoot, the player holds the marble tautly in the left forefinger, stretches the finger back like a bowstring with the right forefinger, and finally releases the finger, causing the marbles to fly forward and aim the goal, keeping the left thumb firmly planted on the ground all times. Each player takes turns aiming the marbles out of the circle. They are the owners of the marbles that were thrown out of the circle. Finally, the game ends when there are no more marbles in the circle, and the player with the most marbles wins.

This marble game helps players develop mathematical and motor skills while also improving concentration, hand-eye coordination, and aiming/targeting abilities. It also allows for socialization and enjoyment, as well as the development of healthy competition.