Traditional games of Kerala

Kerala, the god's own country, has the glory of numerous traditional games aged more than 500 years. Thousands of interesting games spread over under three historical regions - Malabar(northern Kerala), Kochi(central Kerala), and Travancore (southern Kerala). Onam, the national festival of Kerala, is closely related with many of these games such as Kilithattu Kali, Thala Pandu Kali, KutuKutu, Kayyankali, Archery (Ambeyyal), Kutukutu and so on. The world fame martial art Kalaripayattu is very much connected with these games. Efforts are still going on to turn back the clock even though these historical games are vanishing.

KUTTIYUM KOLUM KALI

"Kuttiyum kolum Kali" is one of these games which has so many distinct features similar to cricket. Instead of cricket bat a long stick, locally known as Kole, is used and a short stick, Kutti, as ball. It is a dangerous game as the bowler throws kutti at the batsman who holds the kole and try to hit. Batsman declared out if the rebounce is been cough or fails to hit

THALAPANTHUKALI

Thalapanthukali is a popular keralite village game. A layer of dry plantain is used to make a unique ball to play unique football. Plantain is wrapped many times to get round shape. Coconut fiber may also help in the preparation! Ball is as small as a tennis ball and is playing with lot of interesting rules. Otta, Eratta, Indan, Kalumkizhu, and Murukki are the various terms connected with Thalapanthukali.