Kambala featured under 'Games of India'

Mangalur: A traditional folk sport that is found in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts, Kambala has been featured in a tweet put up by the Union Ministry of Culture. Netizens from Mangaluru and Udupi cities are rejoicing the fact that Kambala has been nationally recognised.

The Tweet with a picture of Kambala was posted by the Ministry's official Twitter handle under the 'Games of India' hashtag as a part of the 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav'.

The picture of a Kambala jockey in the tweet is accompanied by a short description which said, "Kambala – A very popular sport among the farming community. Kamabala is an annual buffalo race observed in Coastal Karnataka. More than 150 buffalos are trained to take part in this unique sport."

The Ministry of Culture's Tweet included the words, "An unforgettable event for villagers and tourists alike - Kambala is a sport one must witness atleast once in their life. Have you seen a Kambala race before?" to which multiple Twitter users have posted pictures of Kambala clicked by them and hailed the sport.

Twitter handles of MLA Raghupathi Bhat; State Minister for Tourism, Anand Singh; Indian Embassy in Djibouti; The Asiatic Society in Kolkata, National Gallery of Modern Art in Bengaluru, Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya in Bhopal as well as the Cultural Centres of North Zone, North East Zone, South Central Zone, and South Zone have retweeted the Kambala post.

A few years ago when animal driven folk sports were under the legal scanner, Kambala in Karnataka and Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu were under scrutiny for animal cruelty. These sports were also hounded by the NGO, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for concerns of animal torture.

Kambala and Jallikattu have also found their place in movies. The recently released movie of international acclaim, 'Kantara – A Legend' featured several cinematic scenes of Kambala. Jallikattu on the other hand, has its name on the title of a Malayalam movie.

Apart from Kambala being featured by the Ministry of Culture, other traditional games like Mallakambh, Nondi, Kho-Kho, and Kancha have also been featured under #GamesofIndia on Twitter. A Tweet from Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav's handle featured the 'Karavali Utsav' which is a festival of culture and tradition that is currently being held at Tannirbhavi Beach in Mangaluru.