Sporting heritage as survival kit

When Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi declared indigenous sports to be “not just physical contests but an integral part of our communities, our traditions, and our identity,” he articulated a profound truth that resonates across India’s diverse cultural landscape.

- Bhagirathi Jena

In an era marked by escalating climate disasters and increasing social fragmentation, our traditional games - from Kabaddi to Kalaripayattu - are emerging as unexpected but powerful tools for building community resilience. These living traditions, often dismissed as mere cultural artefacts, contain generations of accumulated wisdom that can help us navigate the challenges of the 21st century.

The evidence from Odisha’s experience with Cyclone Fani in 2019 is particularly compelling. Villages with active indigenous sports programmes demonstrated remarkable crisis response capabilities that went beyond official disaster protocols. Kabaddi players, accustomed to making split-second decisions under physical stress, naturally assumed leadership roles in relief distribution. Mallakhamb practitioners navigated floodwaters with extraordinary balance, their bodies conditioned by years of training. These weren't isolated incidents but manifestations of what anthropologists term “embodied knowledge” - physical competencies developed through generations of play that prove vital in emergencies.