Atya patya
Atya patya is a traditional South Asian tag sport played by two sides of nine players. It is more popular in rural areas of India. It is more commonly played in Maharashtra, a western Indian state. Atya patya is described as a "game of feints". The playing area comprises nine trenches, coming out of either side of a central trench; a point is awarded to the attacking team's players for each trench they cross without being tagged out by the defensive players within the trenches. The game ends after 4 innings of 7 minutes each, with each team having two innings to score. It has been described as a game of "militant chase". The sport is played in a relatively small area and requires no equipment, similar to other games indigenous to India such as kabaddi, seven stones, kho kho, gillidanda and langdi.
The national governed body of the sport is the "Atya Patya Federation of India". The federation was formed in 1982. The ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, government of India, lists the federation amongst its list of recognised federation for the year 2013. The federation is headquartered in Nagpur. Its president is H. B. Hallad.
The first south Asian Atya patya Championship was held in Bhutan in June, 2013. It was won by India.
Names and variations
Some of the alternative names for atya-patya are Killithattu/Klithatu, Kili Thadthu, Wanjh Wati, Gallery, Sur-pati, Lon-pati, Darya-banth, saragari, saramani, tilli, uppinat, uppupatti, choupal pati, panchwati, and chikka. A related Bengali game is Dari Bandha/Dariabandha, in which the attacking team is considered to be "stealing salt" by making it up the court and then "taking the salt back" to the start of the court.In Southeast Asia, similar games can be found, such as Galah Panjang/Toi/Tui/Belon Acah in Malaysia, Gobak Sodor/Galah Asin in Indonesia, Htote See Toe in Myanmar, and Patintero in the Philippines. Due to the history of Dutch colonialism in the region, the game was also played by Dutch children.
History
Atya-patya was mentioned in the Natṟiṇai, which was written before 300 AD. It was used as combat practice by soldiers in the Chola dynasty.Rules
Field
The playing field is a rectangular court, with a central lane or "trench" 89 feet and 1 inch long marked lengthwise down the middle of the court. Nine additional trenches, each 23 feet and 1 inch long, are drawn on the court perpendicular to the central trench and away from each other, from one end of the court to the other.Gameplay
The game is played in four innings, with each inning lasting for seven minutes, and the teams alternating attacking and defending roles in each inning. Before each inning, the defensive team places one player in each of the trenches. A batch of four players on the attacking team, who are referred to as "assailants", line up at one end of the court, in the area in front of the front trench. The goal of the assailants is to score by crossing each trench without being eliminated; the total number of points scored in an inning by the attacking team is equal to the number of trenches crossed by their furthest-advancing assailant. If an assailant is touched by a defender, then the assailant is "out", and must leave the court. The assailant is also out if they step out of the field while failing to keep any part of their body grounded within the field.If an assailant crosses all nine trenches, they may say the word "Tond", which compels the defenders to turn around, allowing the assailant to now attempt to re-cross the nine trenches in the opposite direction. If an assailant manages to cross all nine trenches in both directions, a "Lona" is said to have been scored, meaning that 18 points have been scored by the attacking team for the 18 times that assailant crossed a trench; after a Lona has been scored, the not-out assailants are brought back to the starting area and then allowed to continue scoring for the remainder of the inning.
Atya-patya matches are decided on a best-of-three basis.
List of defensive faults
A defender's tag of an assailant does not count if the defender commits any of the following actions during or immediately after the tag:- Raising a foot in the air.
- Placing any part of the body other than the feet onto the ground.
- Placing a foot even partially outside of their trench.
- Turning around.
Grenadier or sur
At the start of the inning, or after a Lona has been scored, the grenadier must "cut the squares" before tagging any assailants, meaning that the grenadier must run from the square which is formed by the intersection of the front trench and the central trench to the square formed by the intersection of the next trench and the central trench, and then back to the first square.