Bengali Dashavatar Ganjifa: Dashabatar Tash

Published August 12, 2026 • Updated August 31, 2026

An ancient Bengali version of the Dashavatar Ganjifa pattern.

Above: Bishnupur, West Bengal, where these cards have been created for 87 generations.

Bold forms and colors dominate these cards, an ancient Bengali version of the Dashavatar Ganjifa pattern, a traditional Indian form of playing cards. They have allegedly been created in the West Bengal town of Bishnupur for 87 generations.

In Bengal, Dashavatara is known as Dashabatar, reflecting the Bengali pronunciation in which the ‘v’ of the Sanskrit-derived form becomes ‘b’. Thus Dashabatar and Dashavatar refer to the same concept: the ten incarnations of the god Vishnu, or Bishnu as he’s called in Bengali. Bengali Dashavatar Ganjifa are locally known as Dashabatar Tash, with tash meaning playing cards.

The deck is composed of 120 round, hand-painted cards, which is standard for the dashavatar pattern. There are ten suits, each representing a Vishnu avatar. Each suit has ten pip and two court cards: the lower court card of pradhan/mantri (minister) and the upper court card of raja (king). The pradhan card shows the avatar by itself, while the raja card has the avatar under an ornate canopy.

Ordinarily, dashabatar cards are quite large – one set I have measures 4⅝ in (11.75 cm) in diameter. The set pictured here is markedly smaller, measuring 3⅜ in (8.57 cm). You can see the difference in the photo below.

Above: Three pradhan (minister) cards from the Matsya (fish avatar) suit, shown in two different sizes. The smaller cards are 4⅝ in (11.75 cm) in diameter and the large one is 3⅜ in (8.57 cm). The middle and right cards appear to be by the same artist and/or workshop.

This deck is prepared from scratch, starting with the materials that make up the cards themselves and the paints used to color them. According to Sital Fouzdar, making a full 120-card set takes a month, while the box takes five days; an indication of the time and effort involved. The art is a bit stylized, the faces reminiscent of ancient Maya carvings .

Above: Artist Sital Fouzdar painting a wooden box.

Two of the avatars are different from those used in the traditional dashavatar set. Regular dashavatar ganjifa has the eighth avatar as Krishna and the ninth as Buddha. In Bengali dashabatar, the eighth avatar is Balaram, Krishna’s older half-brother, while the ninth is Jagannath, a form of Krishna. (This combination is also prevalent in dashavatar ganjapa – ganjifa cards used in the state of Odisha, which neighbors West Bengal.)

The majority of dashabatar sets appear to follow the Balaram/Jagannath pattern; it’s unclear whether there are dashabatar versions that use the Krishna/Buddha pattern.

Poster for Faujdar – The Last Man Standing, a short documentary about Sital Fouzdar

Above: Poster for Faujdar – The Last Man Standing, a short documentary about Dashabatar card artist Sital Fouzdar. Watch the film.

With those substitutions in mind, the ten avatars (local spelling in parentheses) and their pip signs are:

Matsya – fish
Kurma – tortoise
Varaha (Baraha) – conch shell
Narasimha (Nrisingha) – mace or chakra
Vamana (Baman) – water pot
Parashurama (Parashuram) – axe
Rama (Ram) – arrow
Balarama (Balaram) – pestle or plow
Jagannath – lotus bud or a stylized face
Kalki – sword

Each suit has a particular background color to help identify it during play. The card backs are red . The deck typically comes in a brightly painted wooden box; these cards, which were bought used, didn’t have boxes.

For centuries, Bishnupur’s dashabatar cards have been created by the Fouzdar family. According to Sital Fouzdar, the current – and possibly last – artisan in the family business, the Fouzdar clan has been painting dashabatar sets stretching back 87 generations. The future of dashabatar is unclear – Fouzdar’s nephew may take up the family craft.

Sital is the subject of the 2025 short documentary Faujdar – The Last Man Standing by Saurav Bhadra. You can see it here.

It’s unclear who made the cards that are featured in this article. However, I ordered a dashabatar set from Sital – scroll down to see photos of him creating the deck.

Above: Pip, pradhan (minister), and raja (king) cards for the Matsya (top row) and Kurma suits, featuring the fish and tortoise avatars.

Above: Pip, pradhan (minister), and raja (king) for the Varaha (top row) and Narasimha suits, featuring the boar and man-lion avatars.

Above: Pip, pradhan (minister), and raja (king) for the umbrella-holding Vamana (top row) and axe-wielding warrior Parashurama avatar suits.

Above: Pip, pradhan (minister), and raja (king) for the Rama (being worshipped by the monkey deity Hanuman, top row) and Balarama, holding pestle, avatar suits.

Above: Pip, pradhan (minister), and raja (king) for the highly stylized Jagannath (a form of Krishna, top row) and Kalki, the incarnation yet to come, avatar suits.

Above: Six pip cards from the Jagannath avatar suit with pink lotus buds arranged in various patterns. Each dashavatar suit has its own background color for easier identification during gameplay.

Above: Three pip cards from the Jagannath avatar suit with pink lotus buds, each with a flower-like emblem below.

Pictures from Sital Fouzdar's workshop: cards in progress.

Sital Fouzdar painting Dashabatar Tash cards

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By Lev Golinkin

United States • Member since May 26, 2026

I'm a US-based author and journalist. I've been collecting playing cards since I was about 8 years old, when I got mesmerized by the various decks that were used in Soviet Ukraine, where I'm from. I collect mainly European decks such as those by Dondorf, Grimaud, and Piatnik. I love courts above all else, and am drawn toward historical and artistic decks.