An indigenous form of archery, called Datasha Doko, continues to be in practice by the tribal community in west and east Sikkim. Begun by the royalty of Sikkim and Bhutan, the unique sport has archers using a traditional bamboo bow to shoot at targets set approximately 130 feet away.
The 13×30-inch targets have concentric rings of red, green and yellow marked for points. And the tournament has two teams of seven players each with 20 rounds of competition.
Datsha Doko has a complicated scoring system, which subtracts the opposing team’s scores from the one that scores higher
Each player can shoot two arrows in a round, getting two points for hitting the board (as opposed to the target). However, these points are nullified if the opposing team’s archer can replicate the feat – 2+2 minus 2+2.
Archers get three points for hitting the target rings. If one team hits the board twice, and the opponents hit the target rings once, they score a single point – 2+3 minus 2+2.
If a contestant misses the board both times while his opponent hits twice, then winning team scores five points – 2+2 and one as bonus. But if one team hits twice and the other team hits once, the former gets three points – 2+2+1 minus 2.
Cumulative scores after all the rounds are calculated to declare the winner. Datsha Doko signifies settling karmic debts and promotes forgiveness.
