Chennai start-up launches games for kids based on Indian epics

Inspired by Indic religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, and Indian mythologies and epics, Charanya Kumar, a game designing expert has launched Chittam, a start-up based in Chennai that creates engaging board and activity games. On January 27 they released five such games. based on Indian wisdom and culture and these are Bharata Vilas, Sarathi, Suprabatham, Neivedya and Bommalattam.

Sharing information about her venture, Kumar said that the games and toys pass on information and knowledge about Indian culture and mythologies through fun games in a relatable way. They have been designed to make them interesting not just for children but also parents and grandparents to enable the family and elderly to come together.

The games are expected to help children build their mental strength and character.

For Kumar the idea for these games came intuitively. For example, Sarathi is an activity book which is inspired by Lord Krishna while Bharata Vilas, is a rummy game which aims to unite India through stories. Bommalattam, which is a folk art is a puppetry kit.

The concept of Neivedya came from her daughter who is four years old who loved to pretend playing with food items none of which were Indian. In this game there is Gatotkacha and boondis have to be crumbled to make ladoo to feed him. It teaches players about offering food to God.

Through Suprabatham, a card game, children are introduced to 60 Indian personalities from across fields. At present the first volume has been launched and work on the second one is going on.

For designing and stories, Kumar seeks out experts like Vishaka Hari who is a Harikatha exponent.

In the coming months, Chittam will launch an activity book to enable children to know more about their family, culture and land and Mozhi, a bilingual game that can be played in English or Tamil and allows them to learn the other language.