Introduction

Raja-Rani is a traditional game played widely in Tamil Nadu and other South Indian states. This game is fun to play and is also known as “Ramudu-Seetha”. “Ramudu-Seetha” is the Telugu name for Ram-Sita in Hindi. This name is traced from the close association of this game with characters of Ramayana, especially Lord Rama and Sita. This game is mostly played by children in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Kochi, Goa and many other states.

Raja-Rani is a fun and educational conventional sport played by rural and semi-urban children. By playing this game, one improves the guessing power and enhances face-reading skills. This game also offers a sense of unity and oneness among the players. The epic characters in Ramayana are chosen to play the game for children to gain knowledge over epic characters of Ramayana.

Things Required to Play Raja-Rani

Raja-Rani can be played among three players. They need bit of papers of equal size. One needs to have a pen. Raja Rani or Ramadu- Seetha is also played among more than three players.

Steps to Play Raja-Rani

Raja-Rani can be well-played if he or she knows the Ramayana well. Here Lord Rama is the Raja or the King. The Rani or the queen is Mata Sita. The following are the steps to play Raja-Rani:

·       One need to have a few bits of paper of equal size. The number of papers should be equal to the number of players.

·       On each paper, a Ramayana character’s name needs to be written. The characters may be Lord Rama, Sita, Lakshmana, Hanuman, Bharata, Shatrughna, Ravana and so on depending on number of players.

·       Each name should carry certain points such as Rama - 5000, Sita - 0, Bharat - 3000, Shatrughna - 1000, and Hanuman – 3000, etc.

·       All the papers are folded in such a way that the text hides inside and the folds look similar. Generally, 4-fold is applied but any other type of fold can be made as long as all bits of paper look similar.

·       The children sit together forming a circle and every player takes the initiative and distributes the folded papers so every player gets one bit of folded paper.

·       The text written in the paper should be read secretly by the player who has received it. The text should be hidden from all other players so each of them could only guess what others have got.

·       Then the player who has got the paper with the text "Lord Rama" written on it has to raise his or her hand. That player needs to find that one player who has the text "Sita" in the paper. It is not required that the person has to find Sita every time. The group can select any other character name written in any bit of paper and can ask to find that character.

·       With correct guessing, the player gets twice the point written in Rama’s paper. Every other player gets their individual point, written in their paper. With every wrong guess, the player either loses points or gets 0 point.

·       The game goes in 5 to 10 rounds.

·       The winner is the player who gets maximum points.

Raja-Rani is one of the widely played games in India which comprises of various characters depending on the region where it is played.