Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

GYMKHANA

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 752 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

GYMKHANA , a display of See also:

miscellaneous See also:sports, originally at the military stations of See also:India. The word would seem to be a colloquial remodelling of the Hindustani gend-See also:khan, See also:ball-See also:house or racquet-See also:court, by substituting for gend the first syllable of the See also:English word " gymnastics." The See also:definition given in See also:Yule's Glossary is as follows: " A See also:place of public resort at a station, where the needful facilities for athletics and See also:games . . . are provided." The name of the place was afterwards applied to the games themselves, and the word is now used almost exclusively in this sense. According to Yule the first use of it that can be traced was, on the authority of See also:Major See also:John Trotter, at Rurki in the See also:year 186r, when a gymkhana was instituted there. Gymkhana sports were invented to relieve the monotony of See also:Indian station See also:life, and both See also:officers and men from the ranks took See also:part in them. The first meetings consisted of promiscuous See also:horse and See also:pony races at catch weights. To these were soon added a second variety, originally called the pagal (funny races), the one generally known outside India, which consisted of miscellaneous races and competitions of all kinds, some serious and some amusing, on horseback, on See also:foot and on bicycles. Among these may be mentioned the usual military sports; such as See also:tent-pegging, See also:lemon-cutting and obstacle racing; rickshaw racing; tilting at the See also:ring, See also:sack, See also:pillion, See also:hurdle, See also:egg-and-See also:spoon, blindfold, threading-the-See also:needle and many other kinds of races depending upon the inventive See also:powers of the committees in See also:charge.

End of Article: GYMKHANA

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
GYLLENSTJERNA, JOHAN 		[next]
GYMNASTICS AND GYMNASIUM

Site © 2006 - Net Industries