Mysore Ganjifa – Raghupathi Bhat Workshop Cards

Above: Clock face from the Mysore Ganjifa workshop.

Above: Raghupathi Bhat painting a Ganjifa card at the Mysore Ganjifa workshop.

Dashavatar Ganjifa cards from Mysore (Karnataka), one of India’s great ganjifa hubs. According to Vinoth Kumar S, Assistant Director of the city’s Handicrafts Service Centre, these were made between October 2024 and February 2025 as part of its training program for local artisans. The workshop was overseen by Shri Raghupathi Bhat, a National-Award winning artist legendary for his efforts in reviving ganjifa.

Above: Map of India with Mysore.

The cards are delicate and lifelike, with the avatars shown sidesaddle on horseback for the pradhan (minister) cards and seated, standing, or, in the Kurma avatar’s case, emerging from a tortoise on the raja (king) cards. The pips adhere to the traditional symbols associated with each avatar (e.g. the sign for the bow-wielding Rama is an arrow; for Buddha, a lotus bud). Deep blues, reds, golds, and greens comprise the palette.

But cards were only part of the training; participants in the five-month long workshop also fashioned mirrors, clock faces and towel hangers, art prints, napkin stands, pen holders and more. Indeed, one could say the program sought to preserve the art of creating ganjifa cards by teaching craftsmen how to make... other things.

The reality in Mysore is that with demand plummeting, the days when an artisan could support themselves from ganjifa decks are gone. Because of that, young people stopped entering the profession, making ganjifa card manufacturing a dying craft.

The workshop led by Bhat confronted that blunt truth. “The idea behind introducing Ganjifa into a wide range of products,” said Kumar S, was “to create more opportunities for artisans while also keeping the traditional art form relevant and sustainable.”

It’s an elegant solution. An artisan who focuses solely on the cards can’t make a living. An artisan who diversifies by importing the ganjifa look into a range of other crafts is better equipped for success. In that way, the art can survive.