DUSHANBE, December 12, 2013, Asia-Plus -- The Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Afghanistan has called the protest of Tajik cultural figures against UNESCO’s decision to inscribe Chaugan (polo) on the List of Intangible Heritage as cultural heritage of Azerbaijan absolutely “baseless.”

Vasif Eivazzade, the head of the department for international cooperation, Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism has said in an interview with APA that UNSECO inscribed Chaugan on the List of Intangible Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding following Azerbaijan’s application.  “It''s too late to rat out,” Eivazzade said, noting that all protests are unfounded.   

“If any country wants to join, it may apply to UNESCO,” said Eivazzade.  “The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has not received any application from the Tajik side on this issue.”

On December 9, a group of Tajik cultural figures and scientists sent a letter to Ms. Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNSEO asking to inscribe Chaugan as joint heritage of the peoples of Iran, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan.

We will recall that the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Heritage on December 3 inscribed Chaugan on the List of Intangible Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding.

According to UNESCO’s website, Chaugan is a traditional horse-riding game played on a grassy field by two competing teams of five riders mounted on Karabakh horses (Azerbaijan).  Players use wooden mallets to drive a small leather or wooden ball into their opponents’ goal.  The game is accompanied by instrumental folk music called ''''janghi''''.  Chaugan reportedly strengthens feelings of identity rooted in nomadic culture.  The practice and transmission of Chaugan have weakened, however, due to socio-economic factors leading to a shortage of players, trainers and Karabakh horses, according to UNESCO’s website.

Meanwhile, some authors give dates as early as the 5th century BC (or earlier) to the 1st century AD for Chaugan’s origin by the Medes. Certainly the earliest records of Chaugan (polo) are Median (an ancient Iranian people).

Polo was at first a training game for cavalry units, usually the king''s guard or other elite troops.  In time polo became an Iranian national sport played normally by the nobility.  Women as well as men played the game, as indicated by references to the queen and her ladies engaging King Khosrow II Parviz and his courtiers in the 6th century AD.  Certainly Persian literature and art give us the richest accounts of polo in antiquity.  Ferdowsi, the famed Iranian poet-historian, gives a number of accounts of royal Chaugan tournaments in his 9th century epic, Shahnameh  (the Epic of Kings).  In the earliest account, Ferdowsi romanticizes an international match between Turanian force and the followers of Siyavash, a legendary Iranian prince from the earliest centuries of the Empire; the poet is eloquent in his praise of Siyavash''s skills on the polo field.  Ferdowsi also tells of Emperor Shapur II of the Sassanid dynasty of the 4th century who learned to play polo when he was only seven years old. Naqsh-i Jahan Square in Isfahan is in fact a polo field which was built by king Abbas I in 17th century.