Paramapadham

PARAMAPADHAM

INTRODUCTION

Paramapadham is also called as Thayam, is a popular game in Tamil Nadu, and this game is considered as a very ancient game, and it is believed that this game was played even by the gods and the goddesses in the heaven. This game is played even in foreign countries, and this game consists of several ladders and snakes. The significance of the game is, those who climb in the ladder would go to the Paramapadham, also called as Vaikunta, the divine abode of Bhagavan Vishnu, and those who climb in the snakes would fall down, and they would reach the hell.

According to legend, the great Vishnu devotee Prahalada used to play this game with his grandson Mahabali during the Krita Yuga, and it is also mentioned in our holy texts, that Lord Indra’s main entertainment is playing Paramapadham with his wife Indra and son Jayanta.  From these incidents, we can consider that this game is a very ancient one. As per our Puranas, it is mentioned that when Lord Shiva and Mata Parvati were playing this Paramapadham game, Lord Vishnu acted as an eye witness of that game. This game would be usually taught to the children by their grandparents. The main aim of this game is to achieve the desired target, and to win over the evil forces, in order to reach the abode of the almighty.

This game would be played by the people of all ages, and mostly children would be playing this game during their weekends, annual school holidays, and especially during the Vaikunta Ekadasi Festival day, in order to control their sleep during the night of the auspicious festival. Before few centuries, most of the kings and queens favourite game is playing Paramapadham. Some ancient kings used to keep a separate group of people for entertaining him like telling poems, playing games with him, and performing arts like dance, drama and singing divine songs on the almighty.

“OM”

WRITTEN BY

R.HARISHANKAR