April 9th, 2009 
Aman The ancient Olympics were of religious nature as the games were part of a festival conducted in the honor of the father of all the Greek gods and goddesses called Zeus. A rural sanctuary site called Olympia situated in western Peloponnesus was the venue for ancient Olympics. This sanctuary was named in honor of Mt. Olympus which was known to be the highest mountain in the main lands of Greece. It is considered in the Greek mythology that Mt. Olympus was he home of the greatest of the Greek gods and goddesses. This ensured that every country has a deep history of sports in their religion. Those who came to its sanctuary primarily Greeks were of the same religion and same language. The participants and athletes were from every part of the Greek kingdom. They came to join the games from as far as Iberia now called as Spain in the west to the Black sea or modern turkey in the east. All the athletes who participated in the games were males.
Back home in India the history of sports dates back to the Vedic period. Religious rites were the most powerful fuel to feed the physical culture in the ancient India. The values as taught in the Vedas stressed upon the physical culture. Dehveda (the body way) is a defined as one of the ways to full realization. In the Vedic period as evidenced by Ramayana and Mahabharata, the men of stature were supposed to be competent enough to compete in the Chariot Racing, archery, horsemanship, military tactics, wrestling, weight lifting, swimming and hunting. All these require great physical hard work and endurance that can be achieved by discipline only. Also it is important to mention here that there were some well laid rules as well to play these games though these games were played in a very raw fashion that sometimes one of the two contenders has lost his life as well.
In India the teacher student relationship has always been held in high esteem. So is observed as integral part of the Indian sport from the time immemorial. The relationship between Vishwamitra and his pupils Ram& Lakshman and between Acharya Drona and his pupils Kauravas and pandavas as mentioned in the Ramayana and Mahabharta respectively establishes the fact that physical sports were played right from the civilisation begun in India. The sports like archery, equitation, hammer throwing, chariot racing etc find place in Villas Mani Majra when Tiruvedacharya mentions these sports. Terms like bhrashram or weight lifting, bhramanshram or walking and Mal Stambha or wrestling were the common sports those days.
Many of today’s disciplines being played at Olympics or for that matter in the field of sports are said to be the modern, sophisticated and improvised versions of the games of the strength and speed which were played in the ancient times in India and Greece. There are some games which are considered to have originated in India such as Chess, wrestling, Polo, archery and Hockey.
It is observed that physical perfection was an integral part of Sanatan dharma or Hinduism. Dehveda or realizing one’s self is considered as the ancient way of obtaining salvation gained through physical perfection. It was called as Kaya Sadhna in the ancient India. This Sadhna required one to understand completely what body is and how it functions. Yoga of modern age is a perfect example as it enhanced stamina, strength and supreme control over the body functions. Ashtang Yoga has eight limbs namely Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayam, Pratyachaar, Dharna, Dhyan and Samadhi. This eight fold method includes the techniques which are associated with control over breathing commonly called as Pranayam, body postures or the asana and withdrawing of senses or Pratyhara. It was yoga only that helped the rishis to stay on the snowy mountains without clothes.
The mention of malla yuda in the Mahabharata clearly indicates that wrestling was a very common game in the ancient India. Every common man along with Kings and princes used to practice the same. Archery was another sport loved in the ancient times. Chess though was played in the form of gamble but was very popular among common masses and the Royal houses. Horse riding was expected to be the most common art a male should learn in the ancient India.
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