Discovering Ganjifa , journey to sawantwadi and the visit to Royal palace. :The beginning

‘GANJIFA’ is a royal game of playing cards which is roughly thought to be originated in Persia travelled its way to India with the Mughals in 16th century spreading in different regions and states being modified and designed by the imagination of artists. This game of cards is completely different from the cards we play today. My journey focuses on Sawantwadi ganjifa in Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra.

The Royal Palace of Sawantwadi

THE BACKSTORY OF BEGINNING:

It was in 2018 when I accidentally stumbled across the art of Ganjifa as I was searching for a subject for my art college's short research. The name ganjifa caught my attention and knowing that such a beautiful piece of art is still alive today in my state of Maharashtra made me more curious and excited. After a lot of searching and gathering information, I was quite disappointed as I could not find any written books or any information easily available near me. Also a question why was this art not included as a part of heritage of Maharashtra in the art history I learned!

With no knowledge or idea about how my journey would be, also with no camera very simple phone camera, and to add almost broke I made my decision to visit the palace and gather all the information I could and satisfy my curiosity if not make a difference. By scraping all the little bit of savings with help of my classmate manoj who accompanied me in this journey, We were all set to sawantwadi from Bombay via train.

(Visit to palace all about ganjifa in part II)

VISIT TO PALACE