Ganjifa, or Gânjaphâ, is a card game that originated in Persia and became popular in India under the Mughal emperors in the 16th century. // This article is about games played with cards. ... For other uses of this term see: Persia (disambiguation) The Persian Empire is the name used to refer to a number of historic dynasties that have ruled the country of Persia (Iran). ... The Mughal Empire (alternative spelling Mogul, which is the origin of the word Mogul) of India was founded by Babur in 1526, when he defeated Ibrahim Lodi, the last of the Delhi Sultans at the First Battle of Panipat. ... (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ...

The name Ganjifa comes from the Farsi word ganjifeh (كنجفه), meaning playing card. The first known reference is in an early-16th century biography of Bâbur, the founder of the Mughal dynasty. The game first became popular at court, in the form of lavish sets of precious stone-inlaid ivory or tortoise shell (darbar kalam). It later spread to the general public, whereupon cheaper sets (bazâr kalam) would be made from materials such as wood, palm leaf, or pasteboard. Farsi may refer to: The name of the the Persian language among native speakers Farsi Island, an Iranian island in the Persian Gulf The Jafari Shia Tajiks of Central Asia Salman al-Farsi, one of the prophet Muhammads companions Al-Farisi (1260-1320), Persian mathematician and physicist Jalaleddin Farsi... Some typical Anglo-American playing cards from the Bicycle brand Set of 52 playing cards A playing card is a typically hand-sized piece of heavy paper or thin plastic used for playing card games. ... It has been suggested that Ayisheh Sultan Begum be merged into this article or section. ... A tree trunk as found at the Veluwe, The Netherlands Wood is derived from woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs. ... Genera Many; see list of Arecaceae genera Arecaceae (also known as Palmae or Palmaceae), the palm family, is a family of flowering plants, belonging to the monocot order Arecales. ...

Ganjifa cards are circular and traditionally hand-made by local artisans. The suits are compose twelve subjects on coloured backgrounds, with pip cards that running from 1 to 10, and two court cards, of a minister or counsellor, and a king. The precise style and arrangement of the decoration on any set is dependent on its artist. The designs of the cards use motifs from the ten avatars of Vishnu. An artisan, also called a craftsman, is a skilled manual worker who uses tools and machinery in a particular craft. ... In literature, a motif is any recurring element that has symbolic significance. ... The ten avatars of Lord Vishnu, copyright BBT In Hindu philosophy, an avatar, avatara or avatarim (Sanskrit: , IAST: ), most commonly refers to the incarnation (bodily manifestation) of a higher being (deva), or the Supreme Being (God) onto planet Earth. ... Vishnu (IAST , Devanagari , with honorific Shri Vishnu; , ), is a form of god or idol, in Hinduism and its mythology. ...

In 1895, General Albert Houtum-Schindler described Ganjifa with the following comments: 1895 (MDCCCXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

The word ganjifeh is in Persian now only employed for European playing-cards (four suits, ace to ten; three picture cards each suit), which, however, are also called rarak i âs - rarak i âsanâs - or simply âs, from the game âs or âsanâs. From travellers to Persia in the seventeenth century we know that a set of ganjifeh consisted of ninety or ninety-six cards in eight suits or colors. At present a set consists of twenty cards in five colors or values. These values are:

1. Shîr va Khurshíd or âs: Lion and Sun, or Ace.
2. Shâh or Pishâ: King.
3. Bîbî: Lady (or Queen).
4. Sarbâs: Soldier (or Knave).
5. Lakat (meaning something of little value): generally a dancing-girl.

The backs of the cards are always black or of a dark color, but their faces have grounds of different colors, viz: The Lion and Sun, a black ground; the King, a white ground; the Lady, red; the soldier, gold; the Lakat, green. The pictures on the cards show much variety and are often obscene, particularly those on the card of the lowest value. The ordinary types as now made are: Ace, a Lion and Sun, as in the Persian arms; a King sitting on a throne; a European lady in a quaint costume; a Persian soldier shouldering his rifle; a Persian dancing-girl. The word ganjifeh I have explained. Âs is no doubt our word "ace", probably introduced into India through the Portuguese. Neither of the words is found in Persian dictionaries. The game of As is exactly like Poker, but without any flushes or sequences. There are four players, and each player gets five cards, dealt to the right. The dealer puts down a stake. The first player then looks at his cards. If he "goes", he says dîdam (I have seen), and covers the stake or raises it. If he does not wish to play, he says nadîdam, (I have not seen) and throws his cards. He may also "go" without looking at his cards - that is, in poker parlance, "straddle" - and says nadîd dîdam (not seeing, I have seen). The second player, if he wishes to play, must cover the stakes, and can also raise. The third player and the dealer then act in the same way just as in poker, and when the stakes of all players are equal and no one raises any more the cards are turned up and the player holding the best hand wins the stakes.

The hands in the order of their value are as follows:

• She va just, i.e., three and a pair; a "full"., i e., three and a pair; a "full."
• Sehta, i.e. threes, aces, kings, etc.
• Do just, i.e., two pairs; aces highest.
• Just, i.e., one pair; aces highest.

When two players have the same pair or pairs, the other cards decide; for instance, a pair of kings, ace, soldier, and lakat.

"Bluffing" is a feature of the game and is called tûp zadan, literally "fire off a gun". A bluff is tûp.

For the domestic fireplace tool, see fireplace poker. ...

Variants

Moghul Ganjifa is played in some parts of Orissa with 96 cards in 8 suits of 8 colours. Dashavatara Ganjifa is played by three persons with 120 cards, mainly in Sawantwadi in Maharashta, although it is played by five persons in Bishnupur, West Bengal. Orissa (Hindi: ) (2001 provisional pop. ... Sawantwadi (Marathi: सावंतवाडी) is a town in Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra. ... Maharashtra (महाराष्ट्र) is a state in west-central India. ... Vishnupur (the distance from Kolkata is 132 kms), now the headquarters of the subdivision of the same name in Bankura district, is a seat of crafts and culture. ... West Bengal   (Bengali: পশ্চিমবঙ্গ, Pōshchimbäŋgō) is a state in eastern India. ...

References

• This article includes public domain text from Stewart Culin's work "Chess and Playing Cards: Catalogue of games and implements for divination exhibited by the United States National Museum in connection with the department of archaeology and paleontology of the University of Pennsylvania at the Cotton States and International Exposition, Atlanta, Georgia, 1895.".

The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... Stewart Culin (July 13, 1858 - 1929) was an ethnographer interested in games, art and author. ... GAMES Magazine is a United States based magazine devoted to games published by GAMES Publications, a division of Kappa Publishing Group. ... This article is about the religious practice of divination. ... Bold textSUCK ON THAT MUTHA FUCKA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Archaeology, archeology, or archæology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech/discourse) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains and environmental data, including architecture, artifacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ... A paleontologist carefully chips rock from a column of dinosaur vertebrae. ... The University of Pennsylvania (Penn is the moniker used by the university itself [2]) is a private, nonsectarian research university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ... The 1895 Cotton States and International Exposition was held at the current Piedmont Park in Atlanta, Georgia. ... This article is about the state capital of Georgia. ...

External links

• Historical Notes: Ganjifa at Andy's Playing Cards
• Ganjifa, a Historical Perspective
• Ashta Dikapala: Eight-Suited Ganjifa
• Four Handed Ganjifa
• A Right Royal Hand - an article on the decline of its popularity and surrounding arts
• Ganjifa - traditional playing cards of India
• A Deck To Treasure