Ludo's Ancient Roots

Ludo originates in India!

Ludo

Most of us would have played the exciting game of ludo with family and friends. However, did you know that ludo originates in India?! The earliest mention of ludo goes back to the 6^th century AD when it was called ‘chaupar’. ‘Chaupar’ was played with a long four-sided cuboidal dice made of wood, bone or ivory. The board was made of cloth with squares embroidered on it. ‘Chaupar’ was mostly played by royal families, but there was also a version for the common people called ‘pachisi’.

Chaupar

 

The Kingdom of Hyderabad’s royal insignia had a kulcha on it!

Flag

Royal Insignia

A kulcha is an Indian flatbread eaten with curry. However, did you know that the kulcha is on the Kingdom of Hyderabad’s royal insignia?! You must be wondering why there is a kulcha on the it. So, let me tell you this exciting story. The to-be first Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir-Qamar-ud-Din once visited a Sufi saint called Hazrat Nizamuddin Aurangabadi. The Sufi saint invited him for a meal and served him kulchas wrapped in a yellow cloth. The Nizam ate seven kulchas. After he had eaten his fill Hazrat Nizamuddin blessed him and prophesied that he would be king, and his descendants would rule for 7 generations. The prophecy soon came true when Mir-Qamar-ud-Din declared his independence form the Mughal Empire. To honour the saint the Nizam adopted the kulcha as the royal insignia and the yellow colour of the cloth that the kulchas had been wrapped in on his flag!

 

Lakhs worth of notes of the last Nizam of Hyderabad were eaten by rats!

The last Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan was known as a miser. Although he was the richest man in the world in his time, he kept all his notes in a storehouse. Once, when the storehouse was opened by the Nizam it was found out that rats had eaten all the notes?!