| Katra Fandatsaka |
| Other Names: Fifangha |
| First Description: Étienne de Flacourt, 1658 |
| Cycles: Two |
| Ranks: Four |
| Sowing: Multiple laps |
| Region: Madagascar |
Katra Fandatsaka (from latsaka "to fall") was first described under the name of Fifangha by the French traveller Étienne de Flacourt (1607–1660) who observed the game among the Sakalava in the north-west of Madagascar in 1658. The Sakalava people, which occupy the Western edge of the island from Toliara in the south to Sambirano in the north. They speak several dialects of the Malagasy language, which is a branch of the Malayo-polynesian language group derived from the Barito languages spoken in southern Borneo and are numbering approximately 700,000 in population. In 1909, the complete rules were given by André-Jean Dandouau (1874-1929). The game appears to be a precursor of modern-day Bao la Kiswahili.
Rules
The rules of Katra Fandatsaka are similar to Bao la Kiswahili. The following differences have been reported by Dandouau:
- The game starts with the set-up shown below and each player keeps 26 seeds(fandatsoka) in reserve.
Initial Position
- There are no nyumbas and, therefore, none of the rules that are associated with them and which make Bao la Kiswahili such a difficult game to learn.
- It is permitted to capture by sowing the contents of a hole, which contains more than 16 seeds.
- It is permitted to empty the front row, but it loses the game.
- There is no takasia rule.
Terminology
The board is called fanaovan-katra, fikatrahana, laharana or fanga and the seeds are known as ratolalaka (Dandouau), bassy (Flacourt), or vary ("rice"), if they are in a hole. The most loaded hole is called vary be ("big rice"). Playing a reserve seed is called fotsiny (literally: "to move in blank") or latsaka ("fall"). A move ending in an empty hole is said to mandry ("sleep"). The turning base (the two holes at either end of the inner rows) is called chibon (Flacourt). Capturing is called homana ("eat"). Mameno-atrika (2filling the empty ones) is a special technique of defense and attack. A loser is said to have been kamo ("lazy").
References
- Dandouau, A.-J.
- Jeux Malgaches. In : Bulletin de l'Académie Malgache 1909; 7: 81-97.
- Flacourt, E. de.
- Histoire de la Grande Isle Madagascar. Paris (France) 1658, 108-110.
Copyright
© Ralf Gering
Under the CC by-sa 2.5 license.