Polo and Manipur's Sagol Kangjei
AI-drafted · awaiting admin review
The modern game of polo was learned by British officers from Manipur in the 1850s. But horseback ball games are recorded even earlier in Persia.
Indian contribution, later developed elsewhereCulture, games, language & ideas
Indian claim
Polo was born in Manipur as Sagol Kangjei, and the Imphal polo ground (Mapal Kangjeibung) is the oldest in the world.
Evidence for the Indian claim
- Joseph Sherer, a British officer often called the father of modern polo, saw Manipuris playing Sagol Kangjei and helped set up the first modern polo club at Silchar (Cachar) in 1859; a Calcutta club followed in the early 1860s.
- British accounts of the 1850s–60s describe the game they adopted as the one played by the Manipuris.
- Manipur's royal chronicle, the Cheitharol Kumbaba, records the game, and Manipur describes Mapal Kangjeibung in Imphal as the world's oldest living polo ground.
Commonly credited to
Polo is an ancient Persian game (chovgan) which spread to Central Asia, Tibet, China and India; the modern rules were drawn up by the British.
Evidence for the other claim
- Britannica: some of the earliest recorded polo was played in Persia, between the 6th century BCE and the 1st century CE, and the game spread from there; it also says the origins of polo are uncertain.
- The word 'polo' is thought to come from the Tibetan or Balti word pulu (ball).
- Very early dates for Sagol Kangjei (such as 3100 BCE) come from tradition rather than records.
What historians and scientists say
Horseback ball games are recorded earliest in Persia, but the modern international game of polo came directly from Manipur's Sagol Kangjei through British officers in the 1850s–60s.