Considered as the king of sport, the origins of the game can be traced back to
Persia. There is also reference to this game being played as Sagol Kangjei in Manipur
during 31W B.C. Patronised by the erstwhile princes of the country, especially, Alwar,
Bikaner, Bhopal, Cooch-Behar, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kashmir, Kishagarh and Patiala,
the development of the modern version of the game in India is owed to the British Army. It
was introduced in the 1870s by the officers of the British Cavalry Regiment stationed in
India. Before the intervention of the British, polo had the patronage of the Mughals.
Emperor Akbar, who himself was a fine player, popularised the game throughout Agra, then
capital city of the Mughal regime. Akbar introduced and clarified the rules of the game.
Some court ladies were also skilled players of the game. The game then flourished in
Chitral (north-west). There are also reports of the game being very popular between the
eighth and the ninth centuries in Cachar and Manipur (north-east).
The Europeans in India took to the game in the middle of the 19th Century and the Silchar
polo club started in Cachar in 1859 is perhaps the oldest polo club in the world. The
Calcutta Polo Club was inaugurated in 1862. These early clubs framed some of the rules of
the modern version, which spread to the other parts of the country through the British
Cavalry Regiments.
The Indian Polo Association was formed in 1892 and in the initial phases, the game was
played on small ponies as a result of which the standard of the game was not so high.
However, after the First World War international rules were framed and accepted by all
countries playing the game.
The contribution of Jaipur during the 1930s needs special mention as it produced top
quality players of rare brilliance. In 1933 the Jaipur team established a record of
winning all the open tournaments in the United Kingdom. The team also had the distinction
of winning the India championship on the trot from 1930 to 1938 before the meet was
discontinued because of the II World War.
Polo was a part of the Olympic calendar from 1900 to 1936 and thereafter dropped following
the II World War. India's greatest hour of glory was in 1957 when its team won the world
championship at Deauville, France competing against some of the best exponents of the
sport from Argentina, USA, England, France, Mexico and Spain. The team comprised Captain
Kishen Singh, Bijey Singh, Rao Raja Hanut Singh and the Maharaja of Jaipur. |