Playing cards and ganjifa
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Some say playing cards are an ancient Indian invention. The evidence shows they began in China and reached India through Persia as ganjifa.
Earlier elsewhereCulture, games, language & ideas
Indian claim
Card games such as ganjifa, with their beautiful round hand-painted cards (including the Dashavatara ganjifa of Odisha and Mysuru), are claimed by some to be an ancient Indian invention.
Evidence for the Indian claim
- India developed its own distinctive card traditions: the 8-suit Mughal ganjifa and the 10-suit Dashavatara ganjifa based on the avatars of Vishnu.
- Some 19th-century European writers proposed India as the original home of playing cards, but without dated evidence.
Commonly credited to
Playing cards first appear in China, then spread west to Persia, Egypt and Europe.
Evidence for the other claim
- Britannica: the earliest reference to playing cards is in Chinese literature of the 10th century.
- Cards reached Europe by the 1370s; early specimens survive from Mamluk Egypt.
- In India, the first mention of ganjifa is in Babur's memoir, the Baburnama (early 16th century). The name ganjifa is Persian, and the Ashmolean Museum describes the game as brought to India from Iran.
What historians and scientists say
Playing cards are documented first in China. Ganjifa came to India from Persia in the early Mughal period, and Indian artists then created their own rich forms, such as Dashavatara ganjifa.