Social Life in Medieval Karnatakaby Jyotsna Kamat
Leisure and Pleasure
It was an era in which people had no difficulty in earning their livelihood, they had plenty of leisure at their disposal which they profitably used for their body-building and amusements. The importance of physical exercise was duly recognized by the Sastras and the scholars. Somadeva Suri says: ' Just as food is not well-cooked in a vessel that is neither covered nor stirred, so a man who has neither sleep nor exercise cannot digest what he eats According to the Agni Purana, a man should not take any physical exercise so long as the food remains undigested, or after a full meal ...., he should not bathe in cold water after coming out of a gymnasium.....Gymnastic exercises remove cold .
Inscrptions [79] [JBBRAS, X, no. viii, p. 234. ] and literature [80] [PP, III, v. 92; DA, III, v. 81.] refer to buffalo-fights (mahisha-yuddha). Buffaloes from Vidarbha, Karahata, Jalandhara and Saurashtra were considered the best. From the description of a dairy farm in the Yasastilaka, it is gathered that Karahata (Karhad in Maharashtra) was famous for excellent breeds of buffaloes [81]. Saurashtra even today is a breeder of good species. These were fed on black gram and curds and allowed to enjoy long, cool baths. After five years, they were ready for fight. On the day of the contest, their bodies were smeared with mud and decorated with garlands of neem (nimba) leaves. The participants were allowed to mate before the commencement which gave them better concentration. They fought like elephants. The one wounded by its opponent's horns or trying to run away was declared beaten [82]. Buffalo-fights and races have survived in the form of kambala in the South Kanara district of Karnataka.
Source : http://www.kamat.com/database/books/sociallife/leisure.htm
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