Custodian of cards

Dubai - It all began with an observation that developed into a hobby, then became an obsession and now it is part of life - collecting centuries-old Ganjifa cards for nearly three decades from all over India.

The man who achieved this feat is a 71-year-old resident from Mumbai named Kishor N. Gordhandas, who has amassed over 4,500 cards that include rare and hand-painted Ganjifa cards (traditional Indian playing cards), and other international playing cards with limited editions featuring Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Victoria, Lady Diana and Prince Charles wedding, Marilyn Monroe, Indira Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi and Elvis Presley, to name a few.

His collection of other playing cards is also outstanding, since out of the 4,500 packs of cards, 350 or so are tarot and fortune-telling cards which were printed on special occasions.

But what makes Gordhandas's collection so special is that he has both designed and commissioned original decks of Ganjifa cards, including eight-suited Moghul and 10-suited Dashavatara (10 incarnations) packs with both traditional and non-standard suit symbols.

The “record collector'' also has the rare distinction of designing and commissioning a unique hand-painted Hindu Astro Mythological Tarot deck which he proudly displays in his prime collection. And this doesn't stop here. Gordhandas has also been active in writing articles about Indian Trick Locks in local magazines and newspapers.

In an interview with XPRESS, Karachi-born Gordhandas spoke about his love, passion and untiring quest to acquire Ganjifa cards from artists all over India. His stockpile of international playing cards from 70 countries shows a child-like propensity for collecting stamps or marbles.

“I was interested in creating mathematical puzzles and used to contribute these to English and Gujarati magazines and newspapers in India as well as to a London-based magazine Games & Puzzles in the late seventies,'' says Gordhandas. “Figures and numbers always charmed me and I was always attracted to them since childhood,'' he says.

Seeing Gordhandas's immense interest in puzzles and cards, the then puzzles editor of Games & Puzzles recommended he become a member of the International Playing Card Society (IPCS), London in 1981. Here for the first time Gordhandas presented his first set of Sawantwadi Dashavatara Ganjifa of 120 cards.

“From here, there was no looking back,'' says Gordhandas, who later become a member of a few other card playing associations in the US, France, Spain and The Netherlands.

But the defining moment in Gordhandas's life came when Austrian expert on Indian Ganjifa cards, Dr Rudolf Leyden, met him.

“Between 1981 and 1983, I met Dr R. Leyden in Bombay (Mumbai), who had written three principal catalogues on Indian Ganjifa cards in the possession of museums in Britain, Germany and Austria,'' says Gordhandas, who credits Dr Leyden with inspiring him. But unfortunately the association did not last long, as Dr Leyden died in Vienna in March 1983.

Commenting on his priceless collection, Gordhandas says his collection of Ganjifa cards “is the largest, privately owned, and the finest in the world, since it has all the traditional items collected from various Indian states''.

According to him, he has 125 complete sets of hand-painted Ganjifa cards in 36, 48, 60, 72, 96, 108, 120, 144 and 192. His largest set consists of 28-suited Nakshtra (Zodiac) Ganjifa of 336 cards and beautiful 288 cards of Dashavatara (10 incarnations) Ganjifa - both from Raghurajpur, Orissa.
Gordhandas's extensive work has not gone unnoticed. Limca Book of Records (India's equivalent of Guinness World Records) honoured him in 1996 with the ‘People of the Year Award' for having the largest collection of playing cards, and his efforts to revive the art of Indian Ganjifa cards.

“I have been often been called a ‘Walking Encyclopaedia' on the art and practice of Ganjifa cards,'' says Gordhandas.

However, it has not been an easy task to collect Ganjifa cards from all over India for Gordhandas. He has travelled to different places in India to locate artists who can prepare them.

“I had stayed with several Ganjifa artists in Sawantwadi, Maharashtra; Nirmal, Andhra Pradesh; Bishnupur, West Bengal; and in Orissa at Raghurajpur, Parlakhemundi, Chikiti, Sonepur, Puri and Berhampur, and Bangalore and Mysore, learning and studying the different forms of Ganjifa. And for me every sitting was a learning experience,'' says Gordhandas.

But this tireless man will be winding up his collection. When asked if he plans to set up a museum of his collection, he says: “Not to be disclosed right now.''

History of Ganjifa

There is no definitive reference as to when and where these playing cards were invented. However, it is assumed that Mughal emperors brought these cards to India in the sixteenth century. Once established, the cards spread to most regions of India, either in the original form known as Mughal Ganjifa or its later Hindu form known as Dashavatara Ganjifa. In June, 1527 Babar, the first Mughal ruler, sent Ganjifa cards to his friend in Sindh.

By the 16th century several different types of Ganjifa games had developed in India. The Ain-i-Akbari gives details of cards and suit signs, described by Abul Fazl (Akbar's biographer). Akbar invented the present game of Mughal Ganjifa. The word ‘Ganj' is a Persian word meaning treasure.