GYMKHANA, gim-kii!na (probably a corrup tion of Pers. gand-khanah, ball-house, influenced by popular association with gym-nasium; also ex plained as being from Eng. game + Pers. kltanah, house). A generic term, originating in India, and signifying an outdoor meeting for recreational pur poses. Ordinarily, gymkhanas are of two kinds: one, a race meeting on a small scale, in which any sort of horse takes part in order to make up a 'card,' and in which the races are generally for catch-weights. The second type of gymkhana is a variety of what was formerly called the ( 'foolish' or 'amusing') gymkhana, in which, besides the usual horse and pony races, other coin petitions for men and women, mounted and dis mounted, are introduced; also tent-pegging and tilting, the former for men, and the latter for women. Every cantonment in India, no matter how remote, or how large or small. has its period ical gymkhana. The 'card' or programme is ar ranged so as to include all classes of cantonment society, and consists of flat and obstacle racing, jumping, blindfold races, egg and spoon races, sack races, etc., for the rank and file of the local garrison. Among the events set apart for the natives none is more important than the race with an earthenware chatti full of water, carried on the head, or the wheelbarrow races. For the officers, military and civil, are such events as `tent-pegging' and 'tilting' in couples, in which the man rides at the peg and the woman tilts at a ring; `threading-the-needle' race: 'Aunt Sally' race, performed by two 111C11 and two women, riding from the starting-point to a fixed place, where the men dismount their partners and hold their horses, while the :•omen throw stones at four empty bottles. The moment the bottles are broken the wormer are remounted and the part ners race back to the post. A favorite competition is the 'wand' or 'maize' event. in which mount ed competitors canter in and out between rows of posts or wands driven into the ground. and placed at convenient distances apa -t from one another in two parallel lines. The competitors must 'make the ride' without touching a post. A menagerie race usually winds up the meeting, and, owing to the many varieties of animals common to the country, an extremely varied assortment of com petitors is always possible. In the hill stations the concluding feature is generally a Turickshaw' (colloquially 'rickshaw) race, in which these light conveyances, drawn by coolies and driven by Europeans, race with each other. A 'rickshaw may be described as an enlarged perambulator mounted on two wheels and fitted with a shaft.
It is drawn by two natives in the shaft, while two push behind. Although the gymkhana has become popular in England within recent years, and has also been introduced into America, it has not the same reason for existence, or value as a sport. In India, owing to the nature of the climate, and the few hours of comparative cool ness, together with the impossibility of following the ordinary sports of the West, considerable ingenuity has to be exercised to invent games which shall afford harmless amusement, and at the same time be within the scope of the usually limited resources of the average cantonment.
GYMNASIA (011'1-n5'e-b.) AND REAL GYMNASIA, ra-ill'glm-nli'zI-11 (Lat. non. pl., from Gk. -yvaNcicriov, gymtwsion, from gym nazein, to train, from ymtv6c, gymnov, naked). The classical higher or secondary schools of Germany, graduation from which, until recently, necessarily preceded the university course and all professional careers. The Gym nasia arose in Germany out of the humanistic movement during the sixteenth century. The ex isting schools were monastic and cathedral under the control of the Church, and guild schools con trolled by the guilds or municipalities, but yet taught and dominated by the clergy. Such schools were devoted almost exclusively to the study of Latin, organized into the traditional curriculum, consisting of the trivium (q.v.) grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic, and the qua drivium (q.v.) arithmetic, astronomy, geometry. and music. The study of the quadrivium was of a most superficial character, while that of the trivium was formal, with no appreciation of the spirit of the Latin literature and no devotion to classical ideas. The humanistic movement reached the German States during the last quar ter of the fifteenth century, and soon modified not only the culture of the universities, but also the work of the secondary schools. Probably the first schools to respond to the new influences were those of Nuremberg, which were modified in 1485 and again in 1490. It was not till 1521. however, that this movement was complete, and instruction in Greek and Hebrew added, thus constituting a true humanistic school. llcanyhile the Prot estant Reformation had begun, and for the time being coincided in its educational aspects with the earlier Renaissance movement. In addition to instruction in classical Latin and Greek. the Reformation influence favored the consolidation of existing schools into stronger centralized ones, or even into complete systems extending over an entire State. and also the placing of these under secular control.