History of Polo in India

Intern: Snehal Bandekar

Polo, while today not a mainstream sport, was once the preferred sport of kings and conquerors, of emperors and the aristocracy. It is one of the oldest and most- played games there is, and thus has a very rich and bountiful history.

Polo is said to have originated in Central Asia (most likely the Persian Empire) circa 1^st century AD. Records show Emperor Shahpur II learned to play polo aged 7 as early as 316AD, from the neighbouring Byzantine Empire. The Byzantines meanwhile had built a polo ground in the Great Palace of Constantinople. Emperor Basil (r 867- 886) was said to be a prodigious player of the game. Emperor Alexander (r 912-913) died of exhaustion during a game of polo and many kings across the ages in the erstwhile civilized world had adopted the sport as the royal pastime.

The game was bought to India by the Mughal dynasty or rather by QutubuddinAibak, The first Mughal Sultan, where it was introduced to the British conquerors when they arrived, who then modernized and popularized the game among Europeans.

The modern game of polo was derived by the Britishers from the Manipuri game of 'SagolKangjei'. Polo is itself being an important part of Manipuri culture and mythology as there were several patron Gods for the sport. There were even 3 different styles of Polo, the other two being field hockey (called KhongKangjei) and wrestling-hockey (called MuknaKangjei).

In Manipur, the game was traditionally played by two teams consisting of seven members each and scoring a goal entailed simply hitting the ball through the other end of the field. The oldest polo ground in the world is the Imphal Polo Ground in Manipur State. The history of this pologround is contained in the royal chronicle "CheitharolKumbaba" starting from AD 33. Lieutenant (later Major General) Joseph Ford Sherer, the father of modern polo visited the state and played on this polo ground in the 1850s. Lord Curzon, the Viceroy of India visited the state in 1901 and measured the pologround as 225 yards long and 110 yards wide.

The first polo club in the world was established in the year 1862 by two British soldiers Shere and Captain Robert Stewart. It was called The Calcutta polo club. They spread the game to their peers in England, and from there Englishmen all around the many different colonies of the empire began to play polo in its modernized form, most notably in Argentina which is the foremost polo playing countries in the world, commonly referred to as the mecca of Polo. David Shennan is credited with organizing the first formal match in the country, and from there it spread rather quickly, with them earning an Olympic gold in the year 1936.