, Ladakh and Manipur. Far removed from the tumult and political turmoil of the plains, and secure in their mountain fastness, life continued much the same as it ever had, and Polo continued with it. In truth, it is to the survival of the game in the remote northeastern state of Manipur, that the world owes the genesis of modern Polo as it is universally played today. The word 'POLO' is derived from the Tibetan word 'PULU' - meaning ball. It was by this name that the Tibetans played their version of this ancient sport, described by some authorities as being the origins of the game itself. Qutub-Ud-Din Aibak, founder of the Turkish slave dynasty and builder of one of medieval Delhi's most famous landmarks, the Qutub Minar, died when he was impaled on the ornate horn of his saddle while playing Polo at Lahore in 1206 A.D. Alexander the Great responded to the Persian Emperor Darius' mocking present of a Polo stick and ball by saying that the gift was truly symbolic - for he represented the stick, and ball was the world he intended to conquer. The Cradle Of The Game India has rightly been called the cradle of modern Polo. While Polo may have grown to maturity in the Americas, it was in India that the modern game was 'discovered' and nurtured. Within a decade it had spread across the globe like wildfire taking horse-lovers around the world by storm. When polo had all but disappeared from the subcontinent with the decline of the Mughal Empire, it survived in a few places where life was untouched by the great battles and intrigues taking place on the plains below. Polo is still played in Gilgit, Ladakh and Manipur, much the same as it has been played for over 2000 years with few, if any, concessions to the modern version of the game. A rough form of polo is still played in an annual tournament in Gilgit in present day Pakistan. In this extreme test of courage and horsemanship deaths are frequently recorded on the long narrow playing field bordered by low stone walls. Each period of play lasts for 20 minutes and no substitution of man or pony is allowed. The proud polo tradition of Gilgit is evinced from the tournament programm