Sport in South Asia

[10] Several variations of tag were played at the time, with kho-kho having been mentioned in the fourth century BCE,[11] and atya-patya around 300 CE; some of them were used for military training purposes.

[22] The transformation of sports and society in South Asia and the accompanying element of coloniality and anti-colonial resistance caused unique transformations throughout this time period: cricket, for example, came to be seen as a unifying way to demonstrate resistance and success against the colonisers and helped in reducing various forms of societal discrimination,[23][24] while football came to be seen as an equalising game that cut across class lines and united the global anti-imperialist struggle in left-wing regions such as Kerala and West Bengal.

[26][27] However, the interaction between local beliefs and Western sporting practices also manifested itself in anti-sport ways at times: the initial introduction of football at one Srinagar school, designed to produce physical fitness among the children, had to take place by force because the schoolboys saw contact with the ball as defiling them,[28] and similar sentiments of avoiding defilement led to Brahmins preferring cricket because it didn't involve physical contact with lower castes.

[29] An American observer later commented that the British physical education regime also appeared to be meant to produce a "race of subservient people" through its emphasis on elements such as military drills.

[38] The poverty of South Asia has continued to be a defining factor in limiting the success of sport in the region; until the 1970s, for example, cricket and football were not prevalent because of the expensiveness of buying balls.