DESERT ARTS AND PEOPLES

Cloth versions of games have been stitched since at least the Mogul era. These were often included in a girl's dowry, embellished as opulently as the family could afford.

This Sap Sidi game is hand made by artisans who migrated from the Nagar Parkar region of Sindh to Kutch, a remote desert region of Western India. The board is a mini quilt of vegetable dyed fabric. Highly skilled in fine geometric suf and kharek style embroidery, women of Nagar Parkar traditionally turn their sense of patterning to patchwork once their eyesight begins to wane. Their patchwork quilts, today made to earn a living for their families, have through Kala Raksha become renowned.

The counters of this game are hand made by a traditional leather worker, who also migrated from Sindh. Decorative punching was originally used to embellish the sturdy shoes worn by herders and farmers of the region.