Malla-yuddha such a wrestling match against a visiting champion in Singapore. Traditional Indian wrestling first began to decline in the north after the medieval Muslim invasions when influences from Persian wrestling were incorporated into native malla-yuddha. Under Mughal rule, courtly fashion favoured the Persianate pehlwani style. Traditional malla-yuddha remained popular in the south, however, and was particularly common in the Vijayanagara Empire. The 16th-century Jaina classic "Bharatesa Vaibhava" describes wrestlers challenging their opponents with grunts and traditional signs of patting the shoulders. Sculptures at Bhatkal depict wrestling matches, including female wrestlers. As part of his daily routine, the king Krishna Deva
India part of a tradition dating back some 5,000 years; gemstones are also worn in India as talismans. In India, several traditional indigenous sports remain fairly popular, such as "kabaddi", "kho kho", "pehlwani" and "gilli-danda". Some of the earliest forms of Asian martial arts, such as "kalarippayattu", "musti yuddha", "silambam", and "marma adi", originated in India. Chess, commonly held to have originated in India as "chaturaṅga", is regaining widespread popularity with the rise in the number of Indian grandmasters. "Pachisi", from which parcheesi derives, was played on a giant marble court by Akbar. The improved results garnered by the Indian Davis