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8/3/2019 Shandur Polo
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Shandur Polo
The world famous Shandur pass is a bout 3738 meter an above sea level and lies
midway between Chitral and Gilgit. The distance from Chitral is 147 Km and Gilgit
is about 211Km. These areas remains snow covered in winter and turn into the
green heaven during summer season. There is a big lake in the area. The traditional
polo tournament played between Chitral and Gilgit teams in the month of hot July.
Foreign tourist and native came to see the festival. The first recorded polo
tournament played at this ground was in 1936, since then every year in July a grand
polo tournament takes place at Shandur pass Shandur is the highest polo ground in
the world, there is game of polo is played between Chitral and Gilgit in every year of
July. The game originated in the dim and distant past in the high mountains of the
Hindukush and Karakurum ranges. Amongst the horse loving peoples of Chitral,
Gilgit and Hunza. Here it is still played in its original form, a game as tough rough
and hard, on man and horse as the surrounding mountains themselves. A game
without rules or empire, a game with only a few agreed convention of play. Polo in
Khowar called "Istoorghar" has been the traditional game of Chitral, as our motto
is "we play polo the game of king and king of the games". The game is commonly
played to the music band comprising a big drum.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The Shandur Polo ground is in the district Chitral, and is situated at 72' 35 east
longitude and 36' 06' north latitude. It is bordered on the west by Yarkoon valley of
Chitral and on the northerners by the valley of Gilgit district. It is dividing point
between the caracara and the handout mountains ranges. The polo ground is a bout
168 Km from the main town Chitral and accessible by jeep. The road is closed
during winter due to heavy snow.
There is a spring and lake in the area; the water quality is suitable for drinking and
bathing. The water is provided to the visitors through of piped water supply system
by the public health engineering department Chitral however; the visitors also use
the spring and lake water.
LAND & WILD LIFE
Shandur is a plateau and the soil varies from elay loam to sandy loam. It is porous
and fragile, as washed off by rain. The steep slopes are highly susceptible to the
action. Some of the localities, were grazing pressure is high its characteristics due to
excessive trampling. According to the local wild life officials, the wild life of the area
consists of the following species:
Himalayan ibex
Snow leopard
Wolf
Chukar The lake water is famous for its waterfowl species.
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AQUATIC SPECIES, INSECT AND REPTILIAN FAUNA
No fish species are found in Shandur Lake, however Langar valley, on one Km
from shandur has trout and some fish species are found in the surrounding streams.
Shandur Lake is full of frog and other insect species. Shandur has very insect fauna;
however some species of butterfly are recorded from Shandur. According to native
of the area common reptiles are snake, some species of lizard are found in Shandurpass.
LEGAL STATUS OF SHANDUR:
According to the record of District Administration Chitral the shandur area
belongs to the people, as communal land. The surrounding communities of Chitral
and Gilgit use the area to graze their livestock's and domestic animals. The demands
from Chitral spend their summers here. The are4a is used as upper pasture and
grassed continuously livestock and other animals, such as horse, donkey, sheep's,
goats etc.
SHANDUR AND ENVIRONMENTThe Shandur pass polo tournament site has become subject to increasing in July. In
the absence of conservation and management plans, great pressure has exerted on
its resources. NGOs and WWF/MACP Chitral and Gilgit has made little attempt to
conservation of natural resource at shandur pass. Polo -Probably really originated
in Persia around 500 BC, and in Chitral it is the most famous and traditional game
being played by centuries. The game of Polo originated in the sport-loving East,
centuries before the Christian era. Its earlier name was CHUGHAN (Persian for
stick) and to this day the Great Square of Ispahan, with its pillars 9 ft. high and 24
ft. apart, is a standing proof of the love that ancient Persians had for this game.
From Persia Polo spread westwards to Constantinople and Eastward as far as
China. Even today Polo is favorite sport of the Autonomous Region of Inner
Magnolia, where they play the game similar to the style seen in Chitral. In the
middle of nineteen Century it was discovered to have survived in the two extreme
corners of Indian peninsula-on the one side in the mighty mountains of the
Hindukush, and on the other in the hills that divide the watersheds of Burma and
Asam. In other words, reports came in that the sport was still being played in the
little principalities of Chitral in the northwest and the tiny highland state of
Manipur of India. Doubtless that the Chitral Polo must have come as a legacy from
the Moghuls (The Chitral ruling dynasty id of the same origin). It is from this part
of the world that the British picked up the game and called it Polo (from the Tibetan
'Pulu' which means willow root, of which the ball was made). A British officer lt.-
Col. Evelyn Cobb for put an extraordinary effort and interest in organizing and
playing polo by torchlight at night, People cannot forget the polo ground at Shandur
Pass 12250 ft. the highest in the world all lighted for Cobb's game. Then some years
after the partition, polo in Chitral saw a lean period, until 1957 when the then
Political Agent and Wazir-e-Azam, Nawabzada Muhammad khan, put the Chitralis
back into their saddle. He founded the Chitral Polo Association, later renamed the
Chitral Polo Anjuman, and sanctioned a substantial annual grant from the former
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state revenues for the promotion of Polo. Horse maintenance Allowance was fixed
for good polo Players and annual tournaments became a regular feature.
THE POLO GROUND
There is no laid down dimensions for a polo ground in Chitral. However, for a polo
ground to be acceptable for staging a tournament it must have the followingqualifications:
Size: 200-250 yds long by 30-40 ft. wide.
Reasonably grassy.
It should be surrounded length wise by low perimeter wall, for the crowd. And from
the ball rebounds in to play.
MUSIC
Polo without its Chitrali music is, to borrow the Japanese phrase,"Like an egg
without salt" to the crowd and spectators. The music is provided by traditional
musicians. Their instruments consist of a big drum, one or two kettle drums and a
long pipe called surnai. When a goal is scored a special tune which would be playedonly to that individual whenever he carried the "Tambuq" towards his opponents
goal.
THE THABUQ or THAMPU
When a team scores a goal, instead of the ball being thrown in the middle of the
ground by an empire, a player from the team who made the last goal starts off at
full gallop from one corner of the ground, with the spectators in full roar from the
boundary walls along with a special tune to passion the player, In his right hand he
holds both his stick and the polo ball, Delicately gripped by only his thumb and fore
finger, while his favorite tune is being played at full blast by the musicians. As he
comes to the center of the field he throws the ball in to the air and strikes it a mighty
blow with his polo stick before the ball falls to the ground. This is the skill of best
player.
STYLE OF PLAY
Polo in Chitral is played with five players each side. Riders do not generally wear
helmets. Every polo player is out there to demonstrate his tartar blood. There are no
rules so there are no umpires. The only common practice to international polo is the
loud abuses that partners yell at one another. The polo stick is used as a scimitar,
not a piece of sports equipment; you can whip or hook your opponent horse if it
responds poorly to your whip. A bandaged head, a bruised elbow or an injured
horse are sign of a good match. Lord Curzon, a famous viceroy of India, watching a
polo match in Chitral in 1894 wrote". The most glorious scuffles with
indiscriminate banging and whacking took place, in which players and the ponies
were equally belabored, but which neither appeared in the last to mind. The men
rode with the utmost impetuosity and without a symptom of fear, and performed
feats of horsemanship which, considering their primitive mounts, were truly,
astounding. They would charge at full speed right against the rough stone wall,
being often as nearly as possible precipitated from their steeds with the violence of
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the impact, I do not pretend to compare this rather primitive type of the game with
the highly finished variety that may be seen at Hurling ham or Meandowbank - any
more than one would compare village cricket with a test match at Lord's, or
rounders with baseball. But the higher type would never have been produced or
evolved had it not been for these hard mountaineers, preserving the tradition and
maintaining the glorious spirit of the game throughout the centuries "