Dandi biyo

Also डण्डीबियो. Guli danda in the Tarai, gilli danda in India, tip-cat in English.

A long stick flicks a short one out of a hole in the ground and drives it as far as it will go, while everybody else tries to catch it. Boys and cowherds played it wherever there was open ground, and for years people took it to be Nepal's national game. It never officially was.

Who plays
Two or more, one striking and the rest fielding. The association plays seven a side.
What you need
A dandi about two feet long, a biyo about six inches long and pointed at both ends, and a small hole in the ground.
Where
Fields, pastures, courtyards and fallow land, all over the country.
When
Whenever there is open ground. No festival is tied to it.

What you need

The dandi is a stick about two feet long, with one end cut on a slant. The biyo is about six inches long and sharpened at both ends, so that a tap on one end makes it jump. The hole, the khopi, is cut in the ground where the game starts, about four inches long and two deep, so that the biyo can lie across it.

The Nepal Dandi Biyo Association set sizes for its own game: a dandi 45 cm long and 3 cm thick, its last 2 cm tapered to a point, and a biyo 15 cm long and as thick, tapered at both ends. A village game uses whatever sticks are to hand.

Dandi45 cm, about two feetBiyo15 cm, about six inchesKhopi, the hole10 cm long, 5 cm deep
Drawn to one scale, at the association's sizes.

How it is played

This is the village game, the one most people remember. The association's game, with teams and a marked field, is further down.

Who strikes first

Each player bounces the biyo on the dandi as many times as they can without dropping it. Whoever bounces it most strikes first. One player strikes and the rest field.

The first stroke

Lay the biyo across the khopi, put the end of the dandi into the hole under it, and fling the biyo out as far as you can towards the fielders. They try to catch it, and may block it with branches or bushes.

The biyo starts across the hole, drawn pale, and leaves it on the lift of the dandi.

The throw back

A catch puts the striker out. If nobody catches it, the striker lays the dandi across the khopi, and a fielder throws the biyo back from where it landed. If it hits the dandi, the striker is out.

Hits the dandi: outFielder
Seen from above.

The tap and the hit

If the striker is still in, they tap one pointed end of the biyo so that it jumps, then hit it away while it is in the air. A good player hits it again before it lands, and each extra hit makes the stroke count for more.

123Tap the pointIt jumpsHit it in the air

Measuring the stroke

The distance from the khopi to where the biyo lies is measured back in lengths of something, and what you measure in depends on how many times the biyo was hit in the air. One hit is measured in dandi lengths, two in biyo lengths, and three in the span of a hand from the forefinger to the little finger. The more hits, the smaller the ruler, so the same ground counts for more.

One hitTwo hitsThree hitsDandiBiyoForefinger to little finger
The units as the Nepali Times (2005) and ECS (2010) give them. The red bracket is the span.

Counting the old way

Villages counted the lengths with words of their own: eko, dubo, tibo, jharo, bhancho, chhaimal, sithi, pire. Eight lengths made one pire, and a stone was set down for each pire to keep the score.

The Nepali Times describes another way: players call an estimate of the distance instead of measuring it, each call trying to beat the last.

एकोekoदुबोduboतिबोtiboझारोjharoभाँचोbhanchoछैमलchhaimalसिठीsithiपिरेpireEight lengths make one pire, and a stone goes down
The count is from Annapurna Post (2019). If your village counted with other words, write in.

Out, and the score

A striker is out on a catch, or when the throw back hits the dandi, and the next player strikes. The stones are the score. No source says how a village game ends, so if yours played to a number of pire, write in.

The association's game

The Nepal Dandi Biyo Association, founded in 2055 BS, wrote the village game down as a team sport. Two sides of seven play, with two reserves each, or five a side on a small ground. A coin toss decides which side takes the dandi first.

Each batter gets three throws in a row and up to eight taps. Points come from the arc the biyo reaches, the taps and the run. The fielding side scores a golden score if the biyo lands in the throwing area. A batter is out on a catch, when the biyo hits the dandi, after three misses, for tapping with two hands, or for striking the biyo above the head.

A game is two halves of 45 minutes. A tie goes to three more throws each, then to a coin toss.

4.5913.51822.52731.5metres60°Batter at the khopiSeven fielders in the V
The field as the association's rules describe it: two lines at 60 degrees from the khopi and an arc every 4.5 metres, ten dandis, out to 31.5. The fielders are placed for the picture.

What is on record

  • 1980s and 90sIts height, by Wikipedia's account. The Nepali Times names chungi among the games that drew children away from it.
  • 2055 BSThe Nepal Dandi Biyo Association is founded, in 1998 or 1999.
  • 2005An officer of the National Sports Council tells the Nepali Times that dandi biyo can't be called the national sport.
  • 2008The National Sports Council recognises the association.
  • 2065 BSKantipur reports one set of rules for the whole country. Nepali Wikipedia cites the report, which could not be read for this page.
  • 2016Onlinekhabar finds the association with no national tournament and its president abroad.
  • 2017On 23 May the cabinet names volleyball the national game.
  • Mangsir 2081Dandi biyo is painted in the mural on the walls of Dasharath Stadium.
  • Asar 2083It is one of the games at the first contest of traditional games in Kathmandu, held with the National Sports Council's technical help.

Where the sources disagree, or say too little

Was it ever the national game?

Annapurna Post says it was, until volleyball. Onlinekhabar and the National Sports Council say it never officially was. Wikipedia calls it the national game in practice, and Gorkhapatra says the question was never settled before the republic.

How big is the hole?

English Wikipedia says four inches deep. Nepali Wikipedia and Annapurna Post say four inches long and two deep, which fits a biyo of six inches lying across it.

How old is it?

A Sports Council staffer told the Nepali Times in 2005 that it began in Mohenjodaro. Nothing supports that, and the two ages Wikipedia gives gilli danda, 2,500 years and 5,000, contradict each other.

What is the striking stick called?

The Nepal Academy dictionary has हुच्चन्ती for the stick that flings the biyo out. No other source found uses the word. Is it still heard anywhere?

Sources

Every fact on this page comes from one of these. Where a source could not be read, or a claim has none, the text says so.

  1. यसरी खेलिन्छ डन्डीबियो, Sunita Neupane, Annapurna Post, 21 Shrawan 2076 (in Nepali)
  2. Sticks and stones, Aarti Basnyat, Nepali Times, 11 March 2005
  3. Nepali Street Games, Aarti Basnyat, ECS, July 2010
  4. Nepal's 'national sport' we never had: Five things you didn't know about dandi-biyo, Onlinekhabar, 17 March 2016
  5. गणतन्त्रपछि खेलकुदमा उपलब्धि, Raju Silwal, Gorkhapatra, 14 Jestha 2082 (in Nepali)
  6. रिसनलाई चेस तथा जेन्जीलाई टग अफ वारको उपाधि, Gorkhapatra, 13 Asar 2083 (in Nepali)
  7. दशरथ रंगशालाका भित्तामा खेल चित्र (तस्वीरहरु), Onlinekhabar, Mangsir 2081 (in Nepali)
  8. नेपाली शब्दसमूह ६७ हा, Nepal Academy dictionary, as copied to Nepali Wiktionary (in Nepali)
  9. डन्डी बियो, Nepali Wikipedia (in Nepali)
  10. Dandi biyo, Wikipedia
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