Nation at Play: A History of Sport in India by Ronojoy Sen (review)

Ronojoy Sen’s Nation at Play is an ambitious work, tracing the growth of sport in India from ancient times to the present, weaving its development into larger political and cultural trends evolving over millennia. Sen frames his argument around two fundamental issues: the identification of Indian culture with cricket and the nation’s lack of international success in competitions like the Olympics. Using these themes to drive the narrative, Sen launches into a chronological exploration of sport in India, beginning in ancient history and transitioning to the seventeenth-century arrival of the British, during which traditional sports like wrestling and shikar (hunting) declined in popularity, replaced by field hockey, soccer, and (especially) cricket.

British colonial policy profoundly affected Indian sport. British soldiers and merchants in India formed European- style clubs competing in soccer and cricket. To ingratiate themselves to their colonizers, Indian elite formed similar institutions, some using sports to “climb up the social hierarchy” (93). During imperial control, British teachers sent to India reinforced this link between sport and empire, working to build an elite caste of native rulers educated in European culture. Sen’s exploration into this colonial give-and-take is particularly fascinating and well developed.

But colonization was not, Sen reminds us, “a one-way traffic of English games being introduced to India by the colonizers” (34). In fact, polo, long a bastion of the Indian elite, became a favorite of British soldiers, using the sport as both a means of entertainment and to keep junior officers in line by requiring them to purchase and care for their mounts. In the early twentieth century, sport also became a mechanism for revolt against the colonizers. Sport was “an arena to challenge and subvert the mighty British Empire” (57), and, when Indian teams prevailed over Brits, it was “celebrated as milestones in the Indian nationalist movement” (113). After gaining independence from Britain in 1947, a rivalry with Pakistan replaced colonial competition as sport drove Indian nationalism. Cricket matches, in particular, became a way for Indians to express their patriotism, as it surpassed all other forms of sport to emerge as the national pastime.

Nation at Play is extensively researched, drawing from copious primary and secondary sources as diverse as the epic poem the Mahabharata and modern newspaper articles. The only drawback to this thoroughness is the sometimes confusing amalgam of clubs, players, and tournaments with little to differentiate them in the narrative. As pages of endnotes and index entries attest, distinctiveness can be a daunting task. There are exceptions, of course. Star athletes like Dara Singh (a well-known professional wrestler), Dhyan Chand (a gold-medal–winning field hockey player), and Ranjitsinhji (a legendary cricketer and Maharaja of Nawanagar) stand out. Ultimately, density is a relatively minor concern as, on the whole, Nation at Play is richer for its depth.

Historians have long overlooked the rich sporting tradition of the Indian subcontinent. But no more. Sen is to be applauded for writing such an ambitious book, enriching our understanding of the history of sport in India.