Culturescape: Ancient Indian Board Games
- Urmi Chanda-Vaz
- May 31, 2016
- 2 min read
They may have moved on from actual boards to computer screens, but the appeal of board games is as great as ever. For many of us, playing board games has been an integral part of growing up, where long summer afternoons were spent playing them. But perhaps not many of us have thought about where they came from. Board games are among the many exciting things ancient India has gifted to the world. Arguably, the three most popular board games of the world, namely Ludo, Snakes & Ladders and Chess all have their origins in ancient India.
Ludo is the simplified version of a game called Chaupar, Chausar or Paccheesi, which was once known as the national game of India. The name Pacheesi comes from Pacchis or the number 25, which was the maximum value of the throw on dice made of cowrie shells. This game of strategy was played by 2 to 4 players on a cross-shaped board with an aim of moving all four pieces around the board the fastest. This may have been the gambling game played between the Kauravas and the Pandavas in the Mahabharata.
Snakes & Ladders went by the name Moksha Patam in ancient India. Moksha Patam translates to 'The Board of Salvation', with most grids signifying a certain virtue or vice. Landing on a vice grid meant committing sins like lust, anger, murder and theft and thus sliding down the moral scale. On the other hand, landing on a virtue grid was akin to doing a good thing like being humble, truthful and generous, and therefore going up the moral ladder. The end of the game was to reach the top grid and attain moksha.
The earliest evidence of Chess in India comes from the Gupta Era when it was called Chaturanga. Chaturanga means 4 divisions and the reference is to four kinds of pieces symbolising the infantry, cavalry, elephants and chariots. The game is primarily a war game played between two players and the fundamental form has remained unchanged through centuries. From India, the game travelled to Sassanid Persia, where it was called Chatrang, and when it was adopted by Muslim rulers, it became Shatranj. Europeans adopted it and spread it to the rest of the world.
These three classic board games continue to be popular because in the words of the famous British philologist, Dr. Irving Finkel, “Good board games never die!”
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