Social Life in Ancient India: Studies in Vatsyayana's Kamasutra c8.s5.t6.1

c8.s5.t6.1

Some of the sports of girls have been described by Vātsyāyana, as well as some of their playthings. The girls took delight in making garlands of flowers, building small houses of earth, of wood, playing with dolls, or in cooking imaginary food with such materials as earth etc. They sometimes played games of chance with dice or cards, or other games like "odd and even," the game of "close fists" and so on; or they might play the game of finding out the middle finger or the sport with six pebbles; sometimes a number of girls played together at games involving some exercise of the limbs (*Kṣveḍitakāni*) such as hide and seek, spinning round holding each other's out-stretched arms, blindman's buff, games with salt or heaps of wheat.¹ We see from this list that many of these sports and games are much the same as those in vogue at the present day among Indian girls and boys.