(Alkesh Patel) Rivoi News, September 8, 2026 – While Prime Minister Narendra Modi is continuously giving message and encouragement to the country about Indian toys and traditional Indian sports with Vocal for Local, a youth from Mumbai is in the news. This young man named Sahil Shirkey has prepared a board game which gives the Indian people an opportunity to better understand and strengthen the roots of their civilization.
The board game named 'Mumukshu' is an interesting simulation game based on Indian civilization, history and 'Indian Knowledge Tradition' (IKS). The name of this game means “seeker of moksha (spiritual liberation)”. The main objective of the game is to fill the huge gap in the global gaming industry by authentically representing Indian soft power.
A game deeply rooted in Indian philosophy
In this game which covers the main points of Indian way of life, victory is not based only on luck or accumulating financial wealth. Rather, the key to victory here lies in managing resources, overcoming life's challenges, taking strategic decisions and activating capabilities to achieve success.
To understand the true complexity of Indian philosophy, players have to balance their personal goals, fulfillment of family needs and desires, social responsibilities, spiritual endeavours, and their contribution to the broader religion and civilization.
Additionally, the game board shows a map of 'Akhand Bharat', a historical cultural region of India. This allows players to naturally understand the history and geography of the civilization during the game.
The vision behind 'Mumukshu'
The idea of 'Mumukshu' came to Sahil Shirke even before he returned to India from Thailand in 2024. He used to work in renewable energy sector in Thailand. He says, “Ramayana and Mahabharata have survived for thousands of years not only through scriptures, but also through Ramleela performances and TV series. When a child plays a game or engages with a story in an audio-visual manner, it gets stored in their brain. Games have a huge impact on our decision-making abilities.”
Board gaming culture is fundamentally Indian. Which has ancient origins with games like Pachisi and Chaupat. However, the modern board gaming sector has been influenced by the West, China and Japan. 'Mumukshu' is an attempt to re-establish Indian dominance at that place.
Inspiration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Shirke's vision aligns with broader national efforts to promote homegrown gaming. In both the 2024 and 2025 Independence Day speeches, Prime Minister Narendra Modi consistently emphasized the huge soft power potential of the gaming industry and urged developers to create games based on Indian capabilities and IKS.
Shirke said, “The Indian education system needs to be focused on IKS (Indian knowledge tradition). There is a huge gap in the education and entertainment sector. 'Mumukshu' combines history and IKS with high-class entertainment.”
What is this game?
'Mumukshu' is a life simulation game, in which you play as your own character and compete with other players to live an ideal life as per the traditional Indian lifestyle. An ideal life is based on maintaining a balance between your personal goals, meeting family needs and desires, social responsibilities, spiritual endeavors, and your contribution to the broader religion and society.
This game is based on Indian civilization, history, culture and lifestyle. It has deep roots in religious principles like 4 Purushartha, Grihastha Dharma, Maya, Karma etc. Overcoming life's challenges, managing resources properly, making proper use of superpowers (achievements) and taking right decisions in life are the keys to winning this game! Players will go through different ashrams i.e. different stages of life. During this time, we will also get information about the country's various cultures, great heroes and grand history.
22 art styles in the game
Its creators have put 22 art styles in Mumukshu game. While talking to Sahile Rivoi, he said that these 22 art styles are based on the local specialties of 22 states of the country. Dr.T. The design of Patola of Gujarat has been placed in it. Similarly, the characteristics of different states have been included on the game board.
- Warli art – Maharashtra
- Pichwai – Rajasthan
- Kerala Mural – Kerala
- Patola – Gujarat
- Chitrakathi – Goa and Maharashtra
- Pattachitra – Odisha
- Hoysala – Karnataka
- Chitrasutra – North India
- Sohrai – Jharkhand
- Dravida – Tamil Nadu
- Kollam – Tamil Nadu
- Sanjhi – Uttar Pradesh
- Thangka – Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Sikkim
- Madhubani – Bihar
- Ganjifa – Telangana and Karnataka
- Tholu Bommalata – Andhra Pradesh and Telangana
- Gond – Madhya Pradesh / Gujarat
- Basohli art – Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh
- Phulkari – Haryana and Punjab
- Alpona – West Bengal and Tripura
- Aipan – Uttarakhand
- गोडना (Godna / Goodhna) – Chhattisgarh
Explaining the reason behind such a design, Sahil Raje Shirkey tells Revoine that the aim is to introduce people to Indian culture along with gaming. That is, if people see the design of Patola while playing the game, they will naturally try to know more about it and through this, the art of various states including Gujarat's Patola will also be promoted.
When will this game be available?
Sahil says that the complete design of the game is ready. Its model was demonstrated to some of the country's top celebrities and everyone welcomed it with great enthusiasm. It is currently in production and the first physical game will be launched in October. After that, online game will be launched in 2027 and virtual game will be launched in October 2027. Sahil and his team also invite partners for the production and sale of this game. For this, the creator of the game can be contacted on the email address – (email protected). Apart from this, one can also contact through WhatsApp number – 9326643061.