The ongoing Karbi Youth Festival (KYF) celebrating its golden jubilee has sparked interest in the fading traditional games of the Karbi community. In a historic move for any ethnicity-based festival in India's Northeast, President Droupadi Murmu is set to attend the festival on January 17.
Commencing on January 12, the eight-day festival takes place at Taralangso, a 672-acre cultural complex on the outskirts of Diphu, which is about 250 km east of Guwahati, serving as the headquarters of central Assam's Karbi Anglong district.
The Karbi community boasts numerous traditional games, including Theng Angtong Pen Kekat (racing with a bamboo basket), Sekserek (stick game), Keron (calculation game), Sansuri Kachivung (tug-of-war), Kengdongdang (racing on bamboo stilts), and Hon Kejeng (spinning). The spotlight during the 50th KYF has been on the Hambi Kepathu.
"Only a few of these traditional games are remembered, and too little is known about them today. They are usually only played at modernized community festivals such as the KYF," mentioned Karbi Cultural Society president Chandra Sing Kro.
Organizing the KYF since 1977, the Karbi Cultural Society recognizes Hambi Kepathu as their national game, linked to the birth of the Karbi community. Hambi Kepathu, also known as Simrit in some parts of Karbi Anglong, involves playing with the spherical dried dark brown seeds of Entada rheedii, commonly known as the African dream herb.
The game is played by two teams of three members each, with each team manning rectangular courts. Players aim to hit the opponent's Hambi—creeper seed—placed vertically on the midpoint of the boundary line. Techniques include flicking the striker's Hambi, rolling, aiming, throwing, and kicking.
"Involving 25 steps, the game used to be played throughout the day in the past. Shorter versions evolved over the years due to time constraints," explained Dilip Kathar, the tribal culture research officer of the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC).
The KYF, largely funded by the KAAC governing Karbi Anglong, features Hambi Kepathu as a traditionally male game, although named after Ham Tungjang, a Karbi girl believed to have invented the game with her brother, Bi Tungjang. Some Karbi traditional games are exclusively for women, such as Sekserek and Hon Kejeng, while others like Sansuri Kachivung and Keron are gender-neutral.
Sources report that the deceased and his friend were brutally assaulted by a 20-member gang over an old feud.
