Andy's Playing Cards - Indian cards

Among the known patterns, Mughal Ganjifa is the variety likely closer to the original pattern once used in Persia.

1 and 9 of Barata ("bill of exchange", very stylized)	It has 96 cards divided into eight suits, whose original names, in Farsi, underwent slight changes, according to the different languages spoken in India. A comparison between the original names and those used in the west of India (Gujarat), in the east (Orissa), in the center (Maharashtra) and in the south (Deccan) is shown in the following table, adapted from Rudolph von Leyden's Ganjifa · the playing cards of India. But they are only a few examples: many more exist in the complicated mosaic of languages of this country.

1 and 9 of Barata ("bill of exchange", very stylized)

It has 96 cards divided into eight suits, whose original names, in Farsi, underwent slight changes, according to the different languages spoken in India. A comparison between the original names and those used in the west of India (Gujarat), in the east (Orissa), in the center (Maharashtra) and in the south (Deccan) is shown in the following table, adapted from Rudolph von Leyden's Ganjifa · the playing cards of India. But they are only a few examples: many more exist in the complicated mosaic of languages of this country.

The court cards are usually referred to with their old names: vazîr (or wazîr) the minister, while the king is called shah (also padishah, or mîr, probably short for amîr, i.e. "emir").

TABLE OF SUITS FOR MUGHAL GANJIFA

Persian names

Bishbar suits
Zar is-SafÎd
Taj
Shamshîr
Ghulâm

Kambar suits
Zar is-Surkh
Chang
Qimâsh

Barât

English

Bishbar suits
White (silver) coin
Crown
Sword
Slave

Kambar suits
Red (gold) coin
Harp
Merchandise

Bill of exchange

Gujarat

Bishbar suits
Sapheda
Taj
Samashera
Gulama

Kambar suits
Sukhama
Changu
Kumade

Barata

Orissa

Bishbar suits
Chandra
Fula
Someswara
Gulam

Kambar suits
Surya
Changa
Kumancha

Barata

Maharashtra

Bishbar suits
Ruper
Taj
Samsher
Gulam

Kambar suits
Kanchan
Chang
Khumash

Barat

Deccan

Bishbar suits
Suped
Taj
Shamsher
Gulam

Kambar suits
Surak
Changa
Kumaj

Varat

1 and 8 of Fula	1 and 5 of Surya

The table shows how both the names and the meanings are somewhat similar throughout India, with a few exceptions, such as the suit of Taj ("crown"), which in Orissa was renamed Fula (represented by flower-looking shapes), and the Zar is-Surkh ("red coin / gold coin"), known in the same area as Surya ("sun", featuring the usual yellow discs).

	In most parts of India, the wazîr and shâh subjects feature human figures (the king either seated on a throne or under a canopy, the minister often mounted, with or without his retinue). But in decks made in Orissa they are replaced by characters of the local mythology and religion: the ones presented in this page show Arjuna (a hero from the epic Mahâbhârata) as a minister in Moghul-fashioned clothes, while the king is a Navagunjara, an incarnation of Krishna from nine different creatures (the body of a bull, the head of a peacock, a human right arm and an elephant's left frontleg, etc.).	wazîr and shâh of Kumancha ("merchandise", red oval with white stripes), Chandra (white disc as a silver coin) and Gulam ("slave", red flower)