The indigenous people of Meghalaya are addicted to their ancient form of sports known as ‘Archery’. The Khasi people believe that archery is a gift from God to Khasis. Thirty archers armed with bamboo bows and arrows sit on a platform awaiting instruction. Then they take aim at a straw cylinder 18 meters away. They each have 34 arrows to shoot in four minutes.
The archer which is known as ‘teer’ in Hindi is a traditional betting sport that allows people to win thousands of rupees in a day. In the early centuries betting was not included in the sport. However for years the betting in ‘teer’ game was considered illegal but in 1982 it was legalised and controlled under the Amusements and Betting Tax(Amendment) Act 1982.
There are several stalls in Shillong the capital of Meghalaya which sells lottery tickets for this sport. The indigenous people believe that the betting game of archery has provided livelihood to it’s people. Several families lives on selling lottery tickets along with betting in the game. Betting takes place in regular basis with people buying lottery tickets everyday between 10am-3.30pm.
This betting game boosting Meghalayas economy to the fullest. Khasi Archery centre in Shillong is the place where a 50 odd archers play this betting game known as Thoh Tim/ Siat Khnam/teer.
