4. GAMES AND SPORTS FROM ANDHRA PRADESH

1. Introduction

Games and sports afford pleasure to the mind, and without our knowledge

they exert a most beneficial influence on the body. They help to make the body

healthy, strong, active and handsome too. Similarly, feasts and festivities give us

relaxation. Man forgets his sadness during such a period, and is transported to a new

world of bliss. Dance and drama, play and pastime all of them contribute to

recreation, and sports as well as formal exercises, and both of them serve to make

man fit physically. Of the above two, games and sports have to be preferred to formal

physical exercises. Games are meant primarily for pleasure. Of these, out-door games

are not only pleasure-giving, but positively beneficial. A game like foot-ball or

hockey not only gives the pleasure and excitement of play, but is also the means of

physical exertion that is very essential for body building. In a game, the mind dwells

mainly on the pleasure of the play, and the player is unaware of the strain to which the

body is subjected. As such, the physical fitness acquired through a game is definitely

preferable to the physical strength gained through formal exercise. The mind controls

the body. He is the principal, and the body is his messenger. So what helps the well

being of the principal, must necessarily contribute to the benefit of the lackey. This is

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the modem attitude, and most western nations are guided by it. The games played

commonly in the west are meant for the young as well as the old. Cricket is meant for

the youthful and middle aged persons also Tennis may be played even by old men.

The Englishman, with who love of sport and physical exercise is almost a national

characteristic, play cricket and tennis commonly. The Indian mind is conservative

and rigid in this matter. Indians think that games and play are meant only for the

young and middle age and old age people do not bother. This attitude finds reflection

in our national life, as well as in the life of Andhra.

2. Games and Play in Telugu Literature

Literature in Andhra does not attach much importance to games, sports and

play. They are looked upon as appropriate only to the juvenile tribe, and are hence

regarded with indulgence rather than special consideration. It is no doubt true that a

lexicon in Telugu does make a reference to various types of games, but they give very

little descriptions of the manner in which they are played. They are dismissed with

the cryptic remark that they are a type of sport meant for boys and girls (poet

Ayyalaraju Narayanamatya refers to many games in his poem ‘Hamsa Vimsati'. He

not only speaks of them here and there in his poem, but devotes a long stanza for

enumerating them). Still, Andhra did have games and sports. There is a game called

‘acchana kayalu’ played with marbles or the seeds of tamarind. It is meant

essentially for girls. There is another game called ‘koti kommacchulu’ It involves

climbing of the trees, and hence is meant mainly for boys. There are other games

with specific telugu names, which are untranslatable. But there are games like hide

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and seek, the game of pillars, and such others played by girls and boys together and

hopping with one foot is a favorite game for both. Marbles and kite flying and top

whirling are the monopoly of boys. A special characteristic of these games is that

these games are associated with songs. Youngsters play the game as they sing the

song. In the various regions of Andhra, the same game is referred to by different

names.

Above described games are meant mainly for youngsters. There are two

games which are of a purely indigenous character and are played by both the young

and grown ups. ‘uppupatti ’ is an ingenious and elaborate game, where the players

divide themselves into two sections, the runners and the defenders. The play field is

the members of the running party managing to pass on from one sector to another,

step by step till they reach their ultimate goal or destination. All the while, the

members of the opposite party keep on guarding the lines or the approaches, with a

view to prevent the opponents from passing from sector to sector. On the way many

of the ‘runners’ fall, as they are touched by the ‘defenders’. But it is supposed to be

creditable even if one of the party of the runners reaches the destination. The greater

the number of runners reaching the destination, the greater the credit to the running

side. This game requires much skill shrewdness and physical agility. At every step,

there are make-believes, feints and sudden withdrawals. The pattern of the game

reminds one of a ring of spies, who try to break through the circles of defense, set up

by their vigilant opponents, and ultimately reaches the rendezvous, where their other

friends are waiting for them. The other game is ‘chedugudi’. The All-India name

given to it is Kabaddi, and it is played in regular tournaments, organized by

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recognized sports associations, the choice of the groups being left to the rival

captains, when the game is played off-hand without previous arrangement. In other

cases, previously chosen teams take part in the competition, as is done in other games.

In between the contending teams, there is a line. Individual players cross the

demarcated line, uttering a sound or repeating a few simple words in a sing-song

fashion. So long as he is on the line, the player has to keep on springing and

scampering before the line of opponents, and by his agility touches one of them

without himself being caught. After touching one of the opponents, if the player

comes back to his side of the line without any mishap, the opponent, who is so

touched, is out or out of the play. All the time, the sing-song iteration. While

touching the opponents, the player may get caught. A number of the players of the

other side may pounce on him, and make a prisoner of him, till he gives up his sing­

song. However, the first player does not yield so easily. He struggles hard to wriggle

out of the hands of his captors, and if he manages to touch the dividing line between

the teams with the tip of his fingers, without a break occurring in the sing-song, all the

captors are supposed to be out. In this manner, the play goes on till all the players in

on team are out. Involving as it does, much physical effort and exertion, kabaddi is

put down as a rude and violent game. That is possibly the reason, why it is popular in

the rural areas where young rustics play it, in the cool hours of the day, and on moon

light nights. There is another game which is played by boys in the rural areas. It is

called ‘kunda band’ and may be appropriately translated into English as ‘Pot Ball’. It

is a sort of Indian cricket, without the costly apparel and paraphernalia of English

cricket. In the play field, in the center of one side, they draw a circle. That is the

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place where the player of the batting side stands. Two low rows of bricks are arranged

in the circle and stick is placed on it horizontally. This primitive substitute stands for

the three polished stumps of modem urban cricket. The batsman who stands in the

circle wields a light plank of wood which represents the cricket bat one of the players

of the opposite side keeps on bowling ball-either a bowling rubber one, or an equally

light one made of rags and a little cotton. His purpose is to hit the stump stick which

rests horizontally on the brick rests. The batsman has either to hit the ball with his bat,

or at least defend his wicket. There is running too in the game, but it is not between

the wickets. In the play field, four posts marked by bricks or small stones are set up.

The players on the batsman’s side have to keep on running from one post to the other,

and this passing from post to post represents the run of the formal cricket. While the

bowler is throwing the ball, if it hits the horizontal stump resting on the bricks in the

circle, the player is naturally out. It is a play which is common in some districts of

Andhra. There may be some variations of the same in other areas. Another very

cheap and delightful game popular with Andhra boys in the rural as well as urban

areas is one known in Telangana as 'gilli danda’. In other districts, it is known by

other names. It is played with simple implements, a short solid stick, of two feet to

thirty inches, and a smaller piece of some six inches. A hollow is made in the ground

from where the smaller stick has to be shot out with force. On its flight, if it be caught

by the rival player, the first player is out. If the rival does not hold a catch, he should

continue to keep up his offensive. The shooting player lays his stick horizontally on

the ground over the hollow. The small stick shot out will be picked up from the place

where it has reached, and thrown by the rival player at the horizontally resting stick

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with a view to hit it. If the thrower succeeds in hitting the stick, the shooting player is

out. Otherwise the shooting player is at the game once again holding the longer stick

in his hand, he manages in a skilful way to raise the smaller one above the ground and

then hits it with all his strength, as far as he can. He gets three chances of hitting. The

hitting player has then to calculate in his mind, the approximate distance between the

hollow in the ground and the place where the shot has reached, and demand of his

opponents that they should yield so many 'tails’ or points to him. The “lall” is a

stipulated distance on the ground measured by the playing stick. Usually the guess of

the shooter is correct. The points are automatically yielded. But if the rival player

suspects that the ialls’ demanded, the shooting player is out. This simple but

delightful game is very popular with poor children, and played in open places even in

the hot sun. All over Andhra, possibly children all over India play this game in one

form or the other.

The most popular out-door games played by children and the youth are

enumerated and described above. Kite flying is an out-door pastime which is indulged

in the Telangana area of Andhra. As has already been pointed out the Indian mind is

very conservative, and it looks upon grown up people playing games as a sign of

levity. After the establishment of British rule in India, Western habits and ways of

living have deeply influenced Indian society. Most of the Western games are now

popular with us. Foot-ball, hockey, cricket, volley ball, shuttle-cock, badminton,

tennis are now freely played in our country and in Andhra also. Games and sports

associations are being formed in every district, and stadiums are being constructed.

While dealing with the question of out-doors games, it has to be mentioned that there

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are special seasons and even days for out door games. So far as the modem Western

types of games are concerned, it need not be pointed out as to what their special

seasons are. Kite flying which is essentially Indian is played in the dry winter months,

in December and January. In the rural areas of Andhra, two days are specially

regarded as sports or games days. They are meant predominantly for girls though boys

also intrude into these games, now and then. These sports days are the third days of

the black fort-night of Bhadrapada, and Ashwayuja. They are respectively known as

‘Undrala Tadiya’ and ‘Atla Tadiya’. On these days, when the weather is pleasant, and

not cold, girls and young house-wives also rise early in the morning, and have a cold

meal and go out into the street to play. The receding night is on its last legs, and the

curtain of the misty moon light comes in handy for the bashful maidens, whose

modesty would not permit them to indulge in games in broad day light. After

spending an hour or more in delightful play, the girls retire to their respective homes.

On the ‘Atla Tadiya’ day, married women fast in the day, offer prayers to the moon,

and then break their fast, eating a type of ‘Dosa’ (pancake) which is earlier offered to

the Moon God as tribute.

It may be said that generally speaking, the games played by grown up men and

women in India are indoor games. Women in Andhra have their special games of

which one ‘vaikunthapali’ is quite interesting. It is a game where the final objective is

to reach vaikuntha, the abode of Lord Vishnu. In other words it is the attainment of

moksha or emancipation. In this sense, the game has a spiritual message, which is

sought to be inculcated through the means of a game. Vaikunthapali is played on a

board with pawns and dice. On the board are drawn the pictures of small ladders and

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snakes, and big ladder and an equally huge snake. The pawns go up, and down the

ladders they come when bitten by the snakes. There is a high ladder which helps them

in attaining their objective, vaikuntha; but very frequently the climbers come rolling

down, to the very bottom, when they are bitten by the huge snake, which is always

maliciously vigilant and prevent every aspirant for vaikunta from reaching there. The

ladders, the pawns that climb them and the snakes whose bite pulls them down can

mean only one thing. Obviously the pawns are men, and the ladders are steps to

virtuous living, and the smaller snakes are temptations, which beset the path of all

good men, and pull them down to the ordinary mundane and purity the sovereign

virtues which lead to man’s emancipation. But Satan, which is represented in the

game by the huge snake, over-powers even these holy men, and foils their attempts to

attain the supreme. This game is in the line of Indian tradition, which seeks to

inculcate the highest spiritual truths through play, game, story and song. The indoor

games most popular with men is chess. In Andhra, it is known as ‘Chaturanga’. It

represents a battle field, where one party opposes the other with the traditional four

fold section of an Indian army, the chariots, the elephants the horses, and infantry. On

each side are the king and his chancellor. Chess is now a world game played by all

nations, though the names used for the various pawns of the game differ from the East

to the West. It is claimed that India is the cradle of this game. It traveled from India to

Persia and Arabia. From there, the Arabs passed it on to Spain in Europe possibly in

the tenth century. During the eleventh century, the game spread to all the European

countries and is now played very assiduously among the Western nations. As is the

case in all other matters; the Westerners are now the masters of this highly skilled and

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interesting game. All over India and in Andhra too, chess had been played for the past

several centuries. All upper classes and particularly king and princes used to play it.

It was a sort of light training for administration, where the measures of the opponent

have to be foiled by counter measures. Hence, chess became a favorite for king and

statesmen. Sri Krishna Deva Raya, the great monarch of Vijayanagara was said to

have been fond of this game. A popular Telugu verse affirms that the Raya used to

play chess, and his favorite opponent was a village officer named Bodducherla

Timmaya. The verse goes on to say that even if a hundred persons ranged themselves

on the side of the king, Timmaya would play alone and defeat the Raya. It is also said

that the Raya was so greatly impressed by the village officer’s skill in chess that he re­

named a village called Koppolu as Krishna Rayapuram, and made a grant of it to

Bodducharla Timmaya. There is another story current which claims that a poor

Brahmin called Tangirala Snkarappa, who was an expert in chess was patronized and

favored by the Rajas of Peddapuram, in the East Godavary District. Many are the

stories which describe the amazing skill of certain Andhras in the game of chess and

these stories current among the populace are listened to with avidity by chess

enthusiasts. It is said that the expert chess player would sit behind a curtain or wall,

and direct the movements of the pawns from there, and in no time discomfit the

opponent. Such extraordinary skill is not dead in Andhra even now chess is however,

so deeply absorbing game that love of this recreation soon became a legitimate play.

Being a sedentary game, it has a pernicious effect on the health of the players

concerned. It imposes a very heavy and baneful strain on the mind.

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Among the other indoor games very popular in India and possibly in Andhra

also, gambling was one. Kings, princes, zamindars and well-to-do people used to

play to recreate themselves. It was a common thing for courtesans to practice this

game, both for pleasure as well as to entice customers. Gaming is a weakness which

few people can overcome in any age or any time. Rustics and uneducated persons in

towns and cities also indulge in gaming now. There are regular gambling houses in

the present age, in all parts of our province, though the law frowns upon it. Refined

and high class gentlemen indulge in gaming at the card table though the facts are

camouflaged by a mask of fine phrases. The disadvantages of gaming, by whatever

name it is called, are too obvious to be recounted.

Very little has been described in the foregoing paragraphs about the in -door

games, and some out-door games, which were popular in Andhra in olden days. But

popular sentiment did not attach much importance to these games. They were looked

upon more as a concession to the puerility and weakness of men than as any activities

of importance. Formal physical exercises, training in the use of arms and other manly

activities were regarded with great liking and respect by the majority of the populace.

For the performance of formal exercises, special institutions were set up in every big

town and village also. They may be called “halls of physical exercise”. Here young

men assembled in large numbers, and used to do formal Indian exercises like ‘dundu’

‘baithak’ ‘wielding of staves’, sword-play, twisting of heavy wooden clubs, and also

wrestling. Of all these exercises, wrestling was accorded the greatest importance, and

shown the greatest regard. Expert wrestlers were called ‘Jyishthikas’ in Sanskrit and

‘Jethis’ in Telugu. They were generally patronized by kings and princes. It is said

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that till the fall of the Vijayanagara kingdom, there were wrestlers all over South

India, and these stalwarts were invariably patronized by royalty and princes. Foreign

travelers like Marcopolo, Nuniz, Barbosa and others who visited our country during

the middle ages bear testimony to the popularity of wrestling and the liberal

patronage.

Archery, sword play and horse-riding were exercises very popular in India and

similarly in Andhra from time immemorial. All the epic heroes of India were great in

archery. There were contingents of archers in Indian armies from the Pre-Maurya and

Maurya age down to the period of the Rayas of Vijayanagara. After the use of fire

arms became wide-spread in our country, archery naturally lost its importance. But

even then, Indian princes and gentry looked upon archery as a manly exercise. Alluri

Sitaramaraju a great Andhra revolutionary of the twenties of this century leaned

heavily on this ancient art. Sword-play and horse-riding and throwing the spear

enjoyed great prestige even now. The use of the shield is necessary aid to

swordsmanship. It is interesting to note that men of all castes including brahmins

learnt these masculine arts, and sought service under kings and potentates as soldiers

and officers in the army. Women also learnt these manly arts and particularly ladies

of royal birth. Such training was an extra accomplishment for them, and was of

immense use in times of peril. Paes, the Portuguese traveler who lived at

Vijayanagara during the age of Sri Krishnadevaraya has recorded in his memoirs that

there used to be in the palaces of the Raya, as many as twelve thousand women body

guards and they were of amazonian physique and were highly skilled in the use of

word, shield, and wrestling.

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3. Games played during Fairs and Festivities

Feasts and festivities enlivened the lives of Indians and among them Andhras

too from the beginning of civilized existence. The manner in which these feasts and

fairs, were celebrated in olden days, is difficult to describe, as there are no records

concerning them. However, the Prabandhas (poetic compositions of a romantic

character) in Telugu do throw some of the festivities which were commonly

celebrated in Andhra. The Reddy kings of Andhra took special delight in celebrating

the spring festival or the ‘Vasantotsava’, Kumaragiri Reddy of Kondavidu used to

organize these festivities on a large scale and spend large sums of money. Karpura

(camphor) and other spicy stuffs were freely used in this period of enjoyment.

Coloured water was sprinkled on all without distinction of rank and office. The

Vasantotsava is preceded by the Holi festival of which ‘the burning of the Love God’

is an essential item. Sometimes the Holi festival, and the spring festival used to

merge into one. Then there are two central festivals of Hindu life, the Dasars and

Diwali. Apart from their religious and social importance, they have a specialty of their

own, both these festivals come after the gloomy monsoon months. The sky is cleared

of dark clouds. The weather is not cold, but there is an invigorating chillness in the

atmosphere, A glorious moon rides brilliantly on a clear sky undimmed by enemy

clouds. The agricultural operations are practically over, and the farmers are only

waiting to harvest the crops or reap the rewards of their hard labour in the monsoon

months. The sky is cleared of dark clouds. It need hardly be said that the Dasara and

diwali are periods of great joy, fun and enjoyment for one and all. There are feasts at

home, donning the best apparel, decorating the houses inviting the newly wedded

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sons-in-law to one’s home, going out to meet friends, peaceful marches in large

bumpers to the out-skirts of the village, feigned invasions of the territory of the

enemy, where from you return with stalks of com, symbolic of your success and of

your occupation of their green treasures, thanks-giving at temples and after returning

home bowing at the feet of your elders and teachers, and presenting to them a part of

the gold which you have been able to capture from the enemy, and then the myriad-

lamp festival of Diwali symbolic of the triumph of virtue over vice, of light over

darkness, of the Divine Sri Krishna over the demoniac Naraka. At the time of the

winter solstice, which comes about seventy fie days after the Diwali, there is another

equally important festivity, that of the sun entering; the Tropic of Capricorn, which

has a religious significance all its own. It is also a harvest festival when the crops are

reaped and brought home. The ‘Sankranti’ is a festival of plenty. It is a period of

rejoicing for men and women. The servants of the household are rewarded. The cattle

are washed and fed well. They are decked with vermilion and flowers.

A few facts have to be mentioned in connection with Dasara and Sankranti

festivals. One is the worship of the Goddess Durga. The worship goes on, on

traditional lines. The plentiful use of flowers of different varieties is a thing which

attracts the attention of everyone, in these festivals. In the Telangana region, the

Goddess is given the name of ‘Batakamma’. For some eight days, women go out in

their best apparel in the evening, with platters in their hands on which flowers of

different hues are arranged in an artistic way. The artistic pile of flowers represents

the Goddess. The women folk go in large numbers to the out-skirts of the village or

town, assemble in some convenient place, and putting representation of the Goddess

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on the ground, they move about gently clapping their hands and singing songs in

praise of the Goddess. It would not be wrong to describe it as a religious dance. The

carnival is over by dusk, and the women return home. On the eighth day of Dasara,

the same out door worship of the Goddess is repeated, but on a large scale, almost

gigantic scale. Big piles of flowers are brought out by many women, and the

ceremonial dance is performed with greater zest and enthusiasm, frolic and

merriment, and at the end of the dance and song, the piles of flowers are

ceremoniously thrown into a lake or a canal and in the absence of either of them into a

well. This ‘Batakamma’ festival which is the specialty of the Telangana area is a

glorious display and riot of flowers. This feast of flowers which is but a local variant

of Telangana is observed in the other districts of Andhra also. As has already been

pointed out, this flower display which is but the shell of something more serious and

basic is at core, the worship of the Goddess Durga. It is performed in the coastal

districts as the ‘Feast of Dolls’. After winter solstice, this religious feast is observed.

The ‘dolls’ to be worshipped are brought from the potter, or from a water shed where

soft clay is easily procurable. They are carried with auspicious music to a central

place of worship, where the ‘pooja’ is performed by a congregation of women, for

nine days. After the completion of the stipulated charged and that too in a ceremonial

manner. Accompanied by auspicious music, the worshippers carry the objects of their

apotheosis to a lake or a canal, where a raft is kept ready. The dolls are placed on the

raft; lamps are lighted, incense burnt, and worship performed. Refreshments are

offered to the ‘dolls’ which can be tasted and enjoyed only by the lofty and immobile

denizens of heavens. After the ceremonial is over, the raft on which the ‘dolls’ are

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seated is towed away into the stream or the lake as the case may be. In the worship of

the ‘dolls’ also, flowers of various types are used, but the display of flowers does not

constitute the main item of the nine-day-long worship of dolls. The ‘dolls festival’ is

observed in another way both on the Dasara and Diwali occasions, but here there is

not much religious paraphernalia. It has artistic display and social eclat for its

objectives. On both these occasion, middle and high class families bring out from

their perpetual incarceration, sores of dolls, which they make it a point to purchase

and store. The dolls are arranged in a prominent part of the house, in an artistic and

attractive manner. Groves, and gardens, streams and lakes, hills and mountains with

sinister looking caves, where from the dangerous tiger, and the lordly king of beasts

peep out are all arranged on a Lilliputian scale in the neighborhood of the gallery of

dolls. Maidens are supposed to be the chiefs of this dolls show, but the parents, the

brothers, the aunts and uncles and all and sundry among the grown-ups play an

important part in the show, doing a good deal of wire-pulling and stage management.

Relatives and friends are invited to see and enjoy the dolls, and admire the skill and

taste of the maidens, ostensibly but of the parents and stage managers really. No

sector of Indian and Andhra life is totally unaffected by religions notions. Even

among the dolls, the gods and goddesses are given a liberal and even an

overwhelming representation. Of these, some favorite God, or Goddess is chosen for

special treatment, and a brief ceremony of worship is gone through in respect of these

deities. It is noteworthy that this ‘Feast of Dolls is observed not only in Andhra, but

all over South India. These occasions give a much needed relaxation and freedom

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from boredom to the average house-wife, oppressed by the monotonous drudgery of

the domestic management.

One very interesting but curious practice which has its roots deep down in the

history of Andhra is observed in the costal districts of this region. It is the ‘Feast of

Prabhas’. The meaning of Prabha is rather obscure, but may be tentatively given as

‘Glory, Brilliance or Effulgence’. It is nothing but a huge frame of split bamboos and

other light sticks over which clothes of various brilliant hues are tied up neatly. It is

the representation of Lord Vira Bhadra, the war-like, puissant and awe-some son of

Lord Siva. On the third day of the festivities relating to the winter solstice, these

wooden representations of Lord Virabhadra are taken out in processions, through the

streets of villages and towns, to the accompaniment of aggressive drum beating and

pipe playing. The ‘Lord’ is carried on the shoulders of a few stalwart youngsters, and

a large concourse of people follows. At some important points in the village or

township, the procession stops, and then from out of the crowd a Saivaite young man

steps out quietly with a drawn sword rusty with age. He flies into a passion suddenly

for no understandable reason, and waving his rusty weapon above his head begins to

scream and shout at the top of his voice, in a frightful manner. As he does so, he

sways to the right and left and, skips forward and backward in an impressive manner,

in front of the ‘Prabha or the Lord’. The sword play is accompanied by a stream of

incoherent eloquence, consisting of curses, threats and challenges. It is difficult to

define, who the persons so threatened of or challenged are. They are invisible or at

least do not appear on the scene. After indulging in this fiery dance and wordy combat

with his imagined enemy for some minutes, the swordsman steps aside, and his

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friends and admirers lead him away in a half fainting condition to a nearby place for

rest and recuperation. Then the procession moves on to the next stage with drum

beating and pipe playing. The significance of this custom is, it is difficult to

understand. The worship of Lord Virabhadra is understandable, but not the antics

indulged in. A keen and shrewd observer of the customs and practices of Andhra

suggests that it may be the remnant of the aggressive tactics adopted by the Vira

Saivas in former times. Vira Saivaism is a militant faith, and it believes in spreading

its principles by persuasion if possible and by force is necessary. Vira saivaisam

spread in Andhra in twelth and thirteenth centuries, though it underwent certain

modifications here. The upper classes in Andhra effected some important changes in

Basaveswara’s message, but the lower classes received and accepted it in its pristine

purity. Vira saivaism’s insistence on the equality of all men, and its message of

devotion to Lord Siva to the exclusion of all the other Gods of the Hindu pantheon

must have greatly appealed to their simple and unsophisticated minds. The average

man is not content with receiving a great message and living up to it; but spread it

among his friends and neighbors. A good many people in Andhra might have been

reluctant to accept the new faith of Vira Saivaism. That led to the use of force by the

followers of Basava. On festive occasions, when people assembled in large numbers

in villages and towns, the Virasaivas would lead their religious processions into these

congregations, and by the display of violent tempers, and show of force intimidate the

common folk and women into accepting the faith of Basaveswara. And their tactics

brought rich dividends. Large numbers of the lower classes thought it wise and safe,

if not spiritually essential, to adopt this new faith. It is worthy of note that in Andhra,

S.K.U.L IBRART Acc.Call.No.............. ........■immj— ■■ tiini i~—i ~i—*

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a good many among the lower castes are Vira Saivas, for example the goldsmiths, the

black-smiths, the carpenters and the weavers. The ‘Festival of Prabhas’ may be a

remnant of the Vira Saiva practices of the past.

Another perfectly understandable custom associated with the winter solstice is

the lighting of bonfires in a central place in the village. At this time, the weather is

very cold. The poor and ill-clad would be happy to have their bodies warmed

comfortably by sitting near a bonfire. All the villagers make their contribution of fuel

to this bonfire. But what is especially interesting is that the young village maidens

also bring in their tribute of small dung cakes. These dung cakes are almost holding

in character. A month before the winter solstice, these young maidens wake up before

dawn, and in the biting cold, sweep the fore-yards, sprinkle dung water thickly, and

after that form beautiful designs and make representations of flowers, birds etc, with

powdered lime, in those yards. Thus, the front yards present a most attractive

appearance for the entire month beginning usually from the 14th of December. In the

midst of these designs dung dolls embellished with ‘Kumkum’ and ‘Haldi’ and

flowers are arranged. The juveniles look upon them as gods. On the following day,

when new dung dolls are prepared and replace the old ones, the old consignment is

converted into small dung cakes, which are perfectly dry by the time of the winter

solstice, and are offered as fuel to the bonfires of the Sanskrit festival. This practice

has its practical as well as artistic importance. Habits of early rising, performing

domestic chores, and handling of animal dung which performing domestic chores, and

handling of animal dung which is a very important article in the domestic and

agricultural life of rural India, but which to many people is distasteful, in the

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beginning are inculcated into young maidens, so that they might not be misfits in life

when they grow up and get married. Secondly, decoration of the house and artistry

are taught to them through these taxing but playful exercises, in the rural as well as

urban areas of Andhra, these practices are observed even to this day.

The importance of the Sankranti lies in its close association with agricultural

operations and the gathering of the harvest. It is the season of plenty. The bullock is

the fulcrum of Indian agriculture, as the cow is of domestic plenty. After the crops

are harvested and brought home, the farmer turns with gratitude to his bovine

companions, who were to a great extent responsible for his successful farming. On

the occasion of the sankranti, the oxen are washed, and their bodies and horns are

smeared with oil to give the skin a bright glaze. Stud bulls are essential for the

growth of a fine race of oxen and cows. In former days, in some villages of Andhra,

they used to set apart a plot of ground for these stud bulls. These animals would graze

there freely, and grow up into fine creatures. The practice of assigning plots of land

for the raising of stud bulls does not seem to be in vogue, now, but some sturdy and

healthy calves are selected to grow up into stud bulls. And when they come of age,

they are given the freedom of the village. They may graze in any field, and even force

their way into any private compound they like, but no one would think of imprisoning

or driving them out unceremoniously. These stud bulls are looked upon as hold.

There is sufficient justification for these curious practices. Agriculture is the mainstay

of India, and since bulls and cows are extremely essential for the economy of India,

the stud bulls which help in the emergence of a good breed of cows and bulls are

regarded with the greatest consideration, and even respect. Such feelings assume very

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easily the garb of religiosity in India. The bulls in the stalls and fields of farmers thus

come to have their day during the Sankranti festival. In some villages of Andhra, they

used to arrange for a special plot of land and designate is as the plot of ‘victorious

bulls’. On the third day of the Sankranti festival, all the village bulls would be led to

a central place, for display as well as for the sake of competitions. The best of bulls

would take part in a galloping competition, and winning bull brings not only a good

reputation, but also a material reward to its owner. ‘The Plot of Victorious Bulls’ is

assigned to that farmer for one year. In the next competitions, the plot is either

retained by the same farmer, or is allotted to the other as the case may be. Thee

allotment of the “Plot for Victorious Bulls” is done on the lines of awarding rolling

cups. In the Guntur District, the bull-competition is conducted in a very popular and

splendid manner on the “Maha Sivarathri Day” which occurs generally in the middle

of February. Near Narsaraopeta, a small town in the above district, there is a hill. On

the top of this hill, there is a temple dedicated to Lord Koteswara. It is a Saivaite

shrine. In honour of Lord Koteswara, the hill is called ‘Kotapa Konda’. Thousands of

pilgrims congregate here to pay their respects to the Lord. The circumambulation of

the hill whose circumference is about eight miles is one of the acts of piety which

most devotees do. A great fair is held here, and naturally there are amusements and

sports. One of the sports is pronouncedly of a rustic type. The farmers, who come

here in their bullock carts, go round the hill in circumambulation in their carts. This

leads to a undeclared competition among the various teams of bulls, which are

brought in to draw the carts. It is said on this occasion several ‘Prabhas’ also are

brought in and taken out in a procession.

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A very popular pastime in Andhra which was greatly enjoyed in the past, and

is done even to this day in the rural areas is the cock fight. It is said that this game

had been in vogue for the past one millennium or even more. The cock fight is a

pastime which it is said is enjoyed in Java, Sumatra, and the far eastern islands also.

In former times land owners and moneyed persons used to rear up cocks especially for

the sake of taking part in fights. Certain areas in villages were set apart specially for

cockfights. In Telangan a quite a few popular songs describing cock fights exists even

to this day.. The well-known battle of Palanadu which was fought in the 12th century

was the outcome of a cock fights. Reference is made in Telugu literary works like

‘Kreedabhiramam’ and ‘Bhoja Rajeeyamu’ and several other pastimes which were

meant for recreating the common folk. In the remote past, combats between elephants

and horses also were arranged and enjoyed by the public. But as time passed on, they

became out-mode and came to be looked upon as crude and barbarous. Thus, by the

14th century; they came to be abandoned. However, cock-fights, and fights between

stud bulls, he-buffaloes, he-goats, rams, and others continued to attract a large

numbers of spectators and enthusiastic admirers. In ‘Manasollasa’ the King Chalukya

Someswara, who was a ruling prince described not only the various pastimes enjoyed

by the people of Andhra in the past, but gave details of the arenas of the combats

between rams, he-buffaloes, cock etc., the way of getting they ready, and various

other details of the game. It is not unreasonable to surmise that these pastimes were

arranged generally during festivals like Dasara and Sankranti. Hunt was a favorite

pastime of kings and princes in days of yore. It had its social value also in as much,

as the hunting of wild animals like tigers, and cheetahs gave relief to oppressed

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villagers etc., and helped them in leading a peaceful life. Hunting is a favourite

pastime of many well-to does gentlemen now, though it has lost much of its heroic

and adventurous character, after the invention of fire arms and the spread of the

modem hide-and shoots system of the Shikari.

Religion also provides several occasions for the amusement and enjoyment of

an ordinary person. The family Gods and Goddesses are worshipped in every

household in India and Andhra too. In addition to this, there are in every village,

temples dedicated to either Vishnu or Siva or both, and also a Goddess who is

supposed to be the patron-deity or protectors of the people. Ceremonial worship is

offered in the temples of Siva and Vishnu once a year. This is in addition to the

simple daily poojas. As is the case in respect of his mortal worshippers, the God also

has his marriage festivities carried on for five days, once a year. Everyday, there

would be some function or the other relating to the matrimony of the divine rulers of

the village, and it provide much excitement and joy to the dreary and humdrums lives

of the villagers. On the last day, the deity is taken out in a palanquin through the

village, where the village matrons receive the God with honour, and make offerings of

rice and fruits to Him. On the occasion of the marriage of the village deity, the

temple priest is always in attendance, and performs the rites relating to the

matrimony. And so are present, the village barbers and the village washer men, for

they are respectively the pipers and drummers of the Lord and His torch-bearers. The

temple priest and the barbers and washer man have their respective allotments of land

made on a hereditary basis, at the time when the village was founded. These ‘Grama

Sevaks’ or village servants are expected to serve the village patron deity also. It is not

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untrue to say that the worship of the protectors of the village is more popular with the

common folk than the worship at the temple of Vishnu or Siva, for the priests there

are Brahmins, and there are no restrictions or inhibitions. The priest of the protectors

freely partakes of the non-vegetarian food and alcoholic or fermented drinks furnished

on the occasion, and strides forth with zeal and enthusiasm for the worship of the

Mother. While he brings the image of the ‘Mother’ out of the temple to the beating of

drums and the loud braying of the pipes, the priest is supposed to be possessed by

‘Her’ spirit, and begins to totter. Then a few chosen villagers rush to his support, and

leaning on them the priest runs hysterically to and fro, and sometimes screams

indignantly at the village who are rated severely for having neglected ‘Her’ worship.

Then the awe-struck and repentant villagers offer chickens and hens as a tribute to the

‘Mother’, and the possessed priest bites off their necks and throws them away half

dead. These offerings evidently appease the ‘Mother’, as a result of which the priest

comes to his senses. The image of the Protectors is then taken round the village,

while the village Washer man carries the torch and the village barbers, and Harijans

supply the drumming and piping, the worship of the Protectors is a nocturnal one, and

it lasts for a fortnight or sometimes for a month. Leaves, bunches, and unripe fruits of

the neem tree are lavishly used in the worship of the ‘Mother’, and in some prominent

places in the village. Bunches of neem leaves strung on slender ropes are tied up for

decoration. On the last day of the worship, there is much clamor, consumption of

country liquor, drum beating, and bloody sacrifices. After the usual worship, the

image of the ‘Mother’ is reverently deposited in the temple, and from ‘Her’ dark and

desolate sanctuary, the ‘Mother’ keeps on exerting her benevolent influence over the

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village for the rest of the year. Normally, the protectors is worshipped only once in a

year, but when epidemics like cholera or small-pox break out in the village, Her

benevolent influence is invoked once again, and there is an additional worship. The

‘service’ of the village Goddess is a real feast to the villagers.

In the pre-British period, when India and Andhra had a national government,

adequate arrangements for extending patronage to the learned, and for providing

amusement to the villagers existed in every village. A special plot of land was set

apart for this purpose. It belonged collectively to all the villagers, and the income

derived from it was used for the purposes mentioned above. The practice of learned

men and poets of other-villagers, and the income derived from it was used for the

purposes mentioned above. The practice of learned men and poets of other-villages

paying visits to the neighboring villages, and receiving their patronage must have

prevailed in former time, and receiving their patronage must have prevailed in former

times, though it became defunct in course of time. The learned men, who visited a

village, would give discourses about the Vedas and Shastras and also spend a few

days in reading and explaining extracts from the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata or

the Puranas. When the scholar left, the village would honor him suitably with cash

and clothes. Poets also must have received similar honors, when they stayed with

some senior villager as the guest of the whole village. In addition to this, parties of

itinerants, half-artistes and half-beggars visited settlements of men from time to time.

These itinerant parties, who were in a nomadic stage, expected the patronage of their

more fortunate brethren in the villages. Once in a year, at the time of the national

feasts like Dasara, Diwali and Sankranti, these nomads would visit the village and

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Pitch their tents on the village out-skirts. Among these nomads, there were men of

various types—-jugglers, acrobats, puppet show artistes, dramatic actors and others.

It should be remembered that till recently, India as well as Andhra were quiet regions,

where there were no easy means of communication, and very few media of

amusement. There were no circuses no dramatic companies, no cinemas, and boxing

or wrestling competitions were beyond the reach of villagers. It was very difficult for

villagers to go to other places even on business. Such persons could not be expected

to go elsewhere for the sake of amusements. Under these circumstances, itinerant

players and jugglers made a very important contribution to rural life. Nomadic

jugglers and acrobats gave displays of their skill and enlivened the otherwise dull and

dreary lives of villagers. Further, puppet-shows were arranged or dramatic

performances given at the village central circle. These artistes were learned in their

own way, and efficient in the discharge of their functions. Themes from the great

national epics Ramayana and Mahabharata were chosen for representation by the

puppet players and itinerant dramatists. They provided much instruction and pleasure

to the villagers. These performances were, it may be asserted, a sort of audio-visual

education and they served to give the rustics much spiritual and moral exhortation,

while providing amusement. These parties of jugglers, dramatists, and puppet show

performers used to receive liberal presents from the village from out of the income of

the collectively owned farm.

4. List of Games and Sports

With this background, we try to enumerate here, the games played by the

people of Andhra Pradesh in alphabetical order, the living and not in use games,

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games found in Telugu literature, games from archaeological strata, and tittle-tattle

games. Existing and living games are described in detail where as non-played games

are with short description.

1. Akki-bikki danda - this is also called as alli-billi danda. This game is played by

girls and each join other hands and rotate in grounds, sometimes they hold

others shoulders.

2. Achchana gandlu - this is also called as achchana gayalu, achchanalu,

gachchakayalu. This is a favourite game, even with the present day young girls.

As the name implies, the game is played with pebbles which are tossed up and

caught on the back of the hand and is played by two or more persons

3. Anji - this is a child play but details are not found

4. Attachchemma - a board game played by cowrieshells. The board either consists

5x5 squares or 7x7 square.

5. Andalamu - this is played by elders to please children, two people hold their

hands like palanquin and the child who sits in the palanquin is greatly amused

while the holders carry him with great care. The lifters get a good deal of

exercise as they have to lift the whole weight of the child or boy.

6. Ammanamalu - a game where in a number of balls are thrown in the air, one

being caught in the hand descending whilst others are rising; all are thus kept at

once in motion.

7. Alamki - played by young boys or girls. Boys form a circle, knit their legs and

bend to the front and back, if any one looses his leg bond, he is out of play.

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8. Aaswika kanduka krida - this is similar to polo. Sitting on a horse hitting the

ball on the floor through a stick, and trying to defeat the opponent is the game

and this game has been referred in detail in Prabhavati Pradyumnamu by

Pingali Surana

9. lelakutalu - this is described in Hamsavlmsati and now this play has become an

interesting art, and many are well versed in this feat.

10. Udatalu- udumulu - this game is neither found in dictionary nor played now.

This is played by young boys forming two teams of ten each. Three lines are

drawn and the umpire stands on the centre line, the two teams stands on the end

lines facing each other. The game starts by chasing one team by other in the

opponent direction and the number of persons caught would increase the points.

11. Uppan battalu - this is also called as Uppatlu, upparabattelu, cherpatti, Uppatti.

Nachan Somana has described in his Uttar Harivamsa as a favorite game played

in Andhra Pradesh by young boys. Game is played by two teams having 5-6 boys

and starts the play by tossing and played either outside the township or in a

playground. The members of the opposite party keep on guarding the lines or the

approachers, with a view to prevent the opponents passing from sector to sector.

On the way many of the runners fall as they are touched by the deference but it is

supposed to be credible even if one of the party of the runners reaches the

destination. The greater the number of runners reaching the destination, the

greater the credit to the running side.

12. Uyyala - is swing is a favourite play of girls of youth.

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13. Okkasikokku - this is also called as rakkasikokku, kokku. The details of the game

is not known, however by the word kokku, it is assumed that this is equivalent to

modem kho-kho.

14. Ottottivaroththi - also called as bakibana. 10-12 children make a circle and one

boy goes round and round and places a piece of cloth on the seat of a chosen boy

and is chased until the boy is caught. This is also called as a game of ‘striking

with a twisted rope-like piece of cloth’.

15. Oppalakuppa - this is not found in any telugu literature but is a favourite game

of girls. Two girls twist and catch their hands, rotate fast until they are tired.

16. Omanaguntalu - this is also called as vamana guntalu, omangayalu,

vanaguntalu. Omanaguntalu ("block of wood with holes") is a popular Mancala

game native to South India, especially Andhra Pradesh. The game is played by

the young and the old alike. Its concept is sowing and reaping - an integral part

of mral life all over India. The game board is made out of wood and sometimes

of metal. In earlier days, boards were even carved into stone slabs on veranda

floors.

The counters used to play the game are tamarind seeds or tiny cowrie shells.

Rules:

The board consists of two rows, each with seven holes.

At the start of the game each hole contains five seeds.

Initial Position

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• On his turn a player picks up the counters of one of his holes and

distributes them into the following holes one by one anti-clockwise.

• After the last counter was dropped into a hole, the contents of the

following holes are distributed in another lap as usual in India.

• The move ends when the following hole is empty. This is called Saada.

• If the hole was empty, the player captures the contents if any of the

succeeding hole. In addition, he captures the contents of the hole opposite

to that hole.

• Each turn a player may move twice, if he captures in his first move. Then

his term ends after two Saadas.

• A player must move unless he has nothing to play with.

• The game is finished when all counters are taken.

• The player who has collected most counters wins the game.

• In the next round, each player tries to fill his holes with five counters from

his winnings. These holes which cannot be filled are marked with a pebble

or a twig and are avoided for further play. The match is continued until

one player is unable to fill even one hole.

17. Kanumusiganta - this is also called as kannukattu and this game is more like

hide and seek played by girls.

18. Kanduka krida - is a ball game, also called as kanduka keli, puttachendu.

19. Kalikanchamu - boys and girls draw a circle denoting their space specified and

try to lift one leg and rotate as much as possible.

20. Kalagajja - this game is played both by girls and boys of 7-8 years of age.

Children sit circularly and the elderly person sitting before start counting the

fingers, this is more like teaching numbers and calculations.

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21. Kichuburalu - this is a game instrument, when pressed makes sounds like kichu

kichu.

22. Kundabanti - this is more like hockey, but Balendu shekaran describes this as

cricket; ‘there is a game which played by boys in the rural areas. It is called

‘kundabanti’ and may be appropriately translated into in English as ‘pot ball’ it

is a sort of Indian cricket, without the costly paraphernalia of English cricket.

23. Kuppigantulu - in this game boys identify one person as thief and others stand

and sit alternatively according to the sayings of the thief.

24. Kodi pandemulu - this cock fight appears to be a widely popular game and is

well attested by scriptures. A lime-stone lotus medallion (15 cms. Diameter)

found from Ikshavakus is worthy of special note where is the scene of cock fight

is effectively shown. Another example was found on one of the facets of the

carved pillar referred to above when cocks are shown fighting ferociously while

the supporters of the holders of the respective cock are anxiously looking at the

fight’. Concrete evidence are available only from 1st cent. AD. in Greece it was

well known even in the 5th cent. BC. The earliest vidence of this sport in India si

noticed on a copper seal found from saka-parthian leaves (20-100 AD) at taxila

were two game cocks are engraved face to face.

25. Kolatamu - is called Stick play. This is played by both girls and boys of 12-15

years of age and is now considered as a form of performing art. This is a dance

form moving in clock wise and anti-clockwise according to rhythm. Nagaijuna

konda’s association with the performance of kolatamu during festive times is

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attested by the depiction of the same as sculptures. This is also found on

vijayanagara temples, “a series of sculptures on the walls of Vijayanagara

represent a popular game which only pietro della valle noticed at Ikkeri. This is

kolatamu— in the same connection he sys ‘all of them carried each hand a little

round pointed stick about a span long or a little more. Which they struck

together after a musical measure, to the sound of drums and other instruments

and one of he skill fullest of the company sung one verse of a song at the end of

which they replyed seven or eight times in the number of their meter with the

word coole—code— code”, this is recorded by Pietro della valle and quoted by

B A Saletore.

26. Kanjanakallu - also called as kundikallu is a boyish game. Two boys carry the

third boy who holds his legs back without slipping him down, sometimes the

boys walk with one leg, holding or lifting the other leg.

27. Ganjifa - is a card game popular all over Andhra in medieval times.

28. Galipatamu - kite flying, even to this day this is a very popular amusement.

29. Gillidanda - is also called as billagodu, less expensive and delightful game

popular with Andhara boys in the rural as well as urban areas is known in

telangana as ‘gillidanda’.

30. Gajjenagullu - this is doll’s game played by infants and small girls. They

literally play a family game and is quoted in almost all telugu scriptures.

31. Guntachallu - a game played by girls with marbles.

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32. Gudugudu gunjam - this is played by boys, more similar to kabaddi and all

through game would spell gudu gudu-----gunjam.

33. Guntamapalu - perhaps similar to omanaguntalu.

34. Guppitaguriginja - identifying the hand where seeds are hidden.

35. Godugubonguramu - a spinning top shaped like an umbrella and is played.

36. Goleelu - very favourite game for boys, a game for shooting marbles is played

by boys of 8-12 years of age marbles can be very conveniently placed in pockets

and hence boys enjoy this game in schools in the leisure time. The game has

many varieties according to provincial customs and traditions.

37. Chaturangamu - see the article appended

38. Chital potla kayi - game played by girls, a girl whose eyes are tied with a cloth

has to identify or touch other girls and the game continues with turns, who are

out.

39. Chindulata - very common in Andhra during festive times like poleramma and

ankalamma jatra, an annual propitiation of village deities. Group dancing of

both sexes is also quiet common and played with cymbals and drums.

40. Chedugudu - though is similar to kabaddi, find some difference.

41. Chemma chekka - favourite game for girls, played by two girls in each group,

stand opposite to each other and clap the opposite girl’s hands by bending to the

front and back, along with very interesting songs.

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42. Cherakula pandemu - a feat of skill and strength in sword play or with an axe,

looping of a stem sugar cane at a single blow in any proposed manner.

43. Jalakrida - water play is played by all ages irrespective of sex. Vasucharitra

describes in detail the various forms of jalakrida.

44. Judamu - see the article appended.

45. Dagudu mutalu - hide & seek game played mostly by girls. Close by the side of

the Pivy council chamber at Fathepursikri, is a labyrinth edifice of curious

design and construction where it is represented the emperor Akbar played the

hide & seek with the ladies of the royal household.

46. Tokkudu billa - hop-scotch play, also called as game of ladder. The pottery

pieces associated with this game are discovered in Nagarjunakonda excavations.

These pottery discs are common in almost all early historical sites and were

evidently used as game pieces for hop-scotch play. This is popular all over India

especially with girls.

47. Tolu bommalata- leather puppet play is considered as an art form now.

48. Dayamu - dice play.

49. Doorapu datulu - this is very similar to the modern long jump.

50. Dongata - this is similar to hide & seek.

51. Nalugu sthmbalata - girls play where rows of pillar are found, they goes on

moving and shifting the pillar, girl who is left without a pillar is considered as

out of play.

52. Nettamu - is also called as pagadasala, pachisu, pachikalata, sogatalata.

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53. Pachisu - similar to the above.

54. Pikili pittaal potlata - a fight between a beautiful forest bird nearly the size and

shape of the nightingale. The body is a darkish red; the brest and belly white; a

bushy black butt on the head; the varied shade fo which comes down as far as

the middle of the neck. A small group of these birds (bulbul) are trained to fight

like game cocks.

55. Pilladeevulu - details not very clear.

56. Pulijudamu - Tiger and Goat game.

57. Puliyata - two types of game is played, 1.wearing a tiger and goat mosque and

trying catch hold of the goat and 2. Children make a circle, holding their hands

and two boys are chosen as tiger and goat. The game starts with goat inside the

circle and the circular boys try to support the goat boy by not letting the tiger to

catch the goat.

58. Prahelika — this is to find out the puzzle or riddle in a poem.

59. Billagodu - this is a favourite game of Andhra boys. This is a very interesting

and amusing game was played in India even in Mahabharata times. This is also

called as Iti-dandu, a contesting game, boys would strike the short stick with

their long stick so forcibly that one of the opponents could catch it or may go

very far to gain points.

60. Bonguralu - top made of wood is played by boys of different age.

61. Bommarillu - both boys and girls join to play, construct a house either with

sticks or sand and play a family game.

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62. Ragunja pogunjalata - gunju is ‘to puli’ , boys on either side stand and take a

thick rope and try to pull the entire to their side and test their strength.

63. Vet a - hunting

64. Vaikuntapali - game details are in the following pages.

65. Singanna datulu - boys congregate in playgrounds and identify a thief and he

needs to carry the winner shown in the drawing at least a furlong as a

punishment.

66. Sogatalu - is equivalent to nettamu

67. Soladoppi - this is known as a gambling game but the details are not known.

5. Research carried out on a few board games

5.1 Origin of Chess

The prehistory of chess is controversial matter, with several different theories

attempting to reconstruct and explain its development up to the first known written

sources. This paper will give another such reconstruction and explanation, one which

I believe fares better than the rest. In it, I follow several lines of thought that have

been stressed in recent literature. First is the idea that the structure of ancient chess,

formed by the various movements of its playing-pieces, must be deeply understood

and compared to other contemporaneous games. Second is the idea that we must also

understand the deep structure of these other games just as well, if we are to grasp the

connections between them. Third is the idea that we must be aware of broader cultural

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movements in the eras we are investigating, if we are to understand the cultural

atmosphere in which chess arose.

With these principles in mind, I will first investigate a game of classical

Greece. From there, the scene will move towards central Asia and India, and a set of

games traditional to that region. Both of these, I will argue, contributed to the

formation of the ancient chess game (chatrang) which is first mentioned in writing in

India and Persia at the turn of the seventh century AD. They did so by combining into

one game, which was the proto-chess proposed by historians as the theoretical

ancestor of chatrang. The fault-line of this combination, or collision, is still seen today

in the division between Pawns and the rest of the modem chess pieces. A staple of

modem chess theory since Philidor has been the notion that Pawns are simply very

different in character, a completely separate sort of thing from the major and minor

pieces. Their short move, inability to move backwards, and the large number of them

on the board give the Pawns a nature all their own. Once this feeling is really grasped,

deeply and intuitively, one can begin to understand the point of this paper: that chess

is a hybrid game preserving the undifferentiated foot soldiers of the Greek game and

adding to them a new element - a set of variegated pieces - to form a complete army.

Before venturing any further it is good to be reminded just how murky and

dark an area we are in. The literary evidence we are able to consult is scarce to

nonexistent. We have a few fragments of texts, none of them anywhere near

comprehensive, and some of them inconsistent. Therefore, to hope for any obvious

conclusions is in vain. Nonetheless, we have a responsibility to step forward and

make attempts at reasonable theories, based upon sound critical judgment. We must

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make these attempts to explain and understand, even though we take the risk of being

wrong. I think we can make a good case using the circumstantial evidence we have -

but we must not forget that it is circumstantial, and that this theory involves a good

deal of unavoidable speculative reconstruction.

Petteia/Poleis

From the fifth century BC onwards, there are references in Greek literature to

something named petteia, which was apparently a general term for certain similar

board games. One of them in particular was named Poleis, "cities”. The ancients,

however, spoke more often of "petteia" in general rather than Poleis, and so I allow

myself the liberty of following their usage as it is found. In any case, the game was so

popular that Plato and Aristotle referred to it in order to illustrate philosophical points.

They speak as though their readers would already understand petteia and its play,

when they use it as an illustration. Summing up what we know: Poleis was a board

game for two players, with many playing pieces, played upon a board having squares.

The method of capture consisted in surrounding one man by two enemy men. This

much can be gathered from the writings of the Roman antiquary Pollux. 1 It is a good

start. I want to give three arguments which may help to further reconstruct Poleis, and

which also, I hope, suggest the similarity of petteia/Poleis pieces to the Pawns of

chess.

The first argument relies on a sentence found in Plato (Republic 487b),

wherein Socrates' victims, cornered by his arguments, are compared to "bad petteia

players, who are finally cornered and made unable to move by clever ones."2 It

appears from this that the game was lost by the poorer player being stalemated, since111

Plato says "finally" (teleutw=ntej), suggesting an ending. It may not have been the

only way to lose (having all of one's pieces captured might be another), but it was at

least one. I believe this passage also suggests that petteia pieces were often found

together in massed groups. If they had been individuals scattered far apart all over the

board during the course of play, then it would be nearly impossible for the victor to

surround them all and render them immobile, no matter how clever he might be. It

simply becomes a logical impossibility. Pieces are more likely to be blockaded, the

closer they are bunched up together. Thus, I believe this was common in the game.

This is also suggested by the fact that weak players tend to fall victim to being

blockaded. One characteristic of weak players in all strategic games is that they have

a habit of drifting along without really doing anything constructive. They let bad

things happen without doing anything to stop those bad things, because they generally

don't realize that they are happening. Their position at the end of the game often

resembles their position at the beginning of the game, since they haven’t done

anything coordinated or constructive during the course of it. Therefore, I think that

Plato's weak petteia players are ones who begin with bunched-up pieces (perhaps

because of a starting position), and allow the pieces to be surrounded because they do

not actively un-bunch them in the proper way, or at all. In any case, this passage

indicates that massed groups of pieces were probably a common occurrence in petteia

-just as the Pawns are grouped together to start a game of chess.

A second textual argument for the idea that petteia featured groups of pieces

comes from a sentence of Aristotle {Politics 1253a). In it, a city less man is compared

to an isolated piece in a game of "pettoi"3 A city less man is an unfortunate thing to

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be in Aristotle, and so it is in petteia as well. A piece far away from the others is

vulnerable to capture, and cannot capture anything at all by itself. Hence it ought to be

avoided as much as possible by keeping one's pieces together - without, of course,

keeping them together so much that they are vulnerable to blockade. Thus, a good

strategic player will often have his pieces together in flexible, agile groups. Again, I

suggest that these groups in fact resembled the pawn-lines of modem chess.

The third argument is purely structural, instead of textual. It concerns the

methods of capture, both of the modem Pawn and the ancient Poleis piece. Consider

the familiar (and awfully curious) Pawn's capture: one square forward and one to the

side, i.e. one square diagonally. Note also that the Pawn, uniquely among chessmen,

does not capture as it moves. This method of capture has been characteristic of the

Pawn from its very first detailed descriptions by the Arabs. It is very ancient, and

therefore perhaps somehow fundamental to the Pawn's nature. Now, consider the

method of capture noted by Pollux, combined with two reasonable assumptions: that

the opposing armies generally moved towards each other, and that each piece moved

only one square orthogonally. The first assumption is made plausible by the entire

concept of having two “opposing armies" on a battlefield. This is a natural type of

arrangement for a war-game. The second assumption is made plausible by the very

notion of "footsoldiers". They don't usually move quickly, so one square is a natural

move for such a piece. Also, any longer a move tends to result in a less playable

game. Furthermore, Ulrich Schadler has suggested just such a move in his

reconstruction of Latrunculi, a Roman game thought to be related to Poleis.4

113

KIEIO

Al'Figure I

Figure 1 shows that the net effect of a Poleis stone stepping forward to capture its enemy is identical with the net effect of a Pawn's capture. The piece one square diagonally forward is removed. My intuition is that there must be some reason for this structural co-incidence, one that also explains the very odd capture of the Pawn. The most logical explanation would be that the modern Pawn is a direct descendant of the Poleis piece.

The structural and textual points stressed above give rise to some fairly good

arguments for the conclusion that chess is in some way a descendant of petteia/Poleis.

Another, cultural, argument arises when we consider that Greek culture as whole

moved eastwards into Asia in classical times. Asia - the place where we hear the very

first certain references to a game recognizable to us as chess; the place where we find

the first playing-pieces of a kind recognizable to us as chessmen. Right around where

Afghanistan lies today, there once used to be an island of Greek culture far away from

the mainland. Alexander the Great had conquered the entire Near East, before he died

in 323 BC. But he and his armies both stayed in these faraway lands, never to return.

Alexander died in Babylon. His disbanded troops became colonists, in the cities that

Alexander had founded all over his lands. There were dozens of cities (mostly named

Alexandria) containing temples and agoras and every feature of Hellenistic culture

114

one would expect to find. It was Greece away from Greece. Colonies were, after all,

nothing new to the Greeks, as shown by the thriving settlements in Sicily and Italy.

These Asian colonies gradually became independent as their own governors

took power and created independent states of their own. 5 The most important of

these states was Bactria. In 246 BC, its governor organized the Greek Central Asian

possessions into an independent kingdom, which went on to gain great wealth and

power because of its fertile soil. Bactria was so prosperous and powerful that it

survived long after the Parthian Empire had risen in Iran, cutting the Bactrian Greeks

off from the Mediterranean shores and making Bactria a cultural island unto itself.

But it was very definitely a Greek cultural island. Greek was the lingua franca

of the region, and drachmai were its common currency. The plays of Menander were

performed in Ai Khanum. There was also a copy of the Delphic Maxims, 150

aphorisms originally kept on permanent display at the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi.

If all this, then why not petteia?

It would seem unnatural to deny the game was there. No physical evidence of

it has been found in Asia, but it can not have been just as important in Bactrian Greek

society as it had been in Athenian Greek society. The sheer scale of the Greek cultural

movement is one argument for the presence of petteia in Asia. A second (though

tentative) argument comes from a Persian story of the poet Firdausi, writing near AD

1000, long after the Bactrian state had faded away in the first century BC. One

passage describes a game with a method of capture identical to that of Poleis. The

exact nature of this game is unclear, but Firdausi’s description of capture renders it

115

possible that knowledge of Poleis (or perhaps a descendant of it) had survived to such

a late date.6

This historical lesson is extremely important, because it is precisely in the lands once

part of Bactria where we will see the first surviving specimens of what we now know is chess.

But before going there, we still need to fill a blank in the pre-history of the game.

Pieces

If chess is a hybrid of Pawns and pieces, and we have explained the origin of

the Pawns, then that still leaves the pieces. And indeed, this has been a far greater

problem for the historians. Our first literary references to the game arrive near 600

AD with it already complete, having the same pieces and moves that it would keep all

through the Middle Ages and into the early Renaissance. With the Pawns, at least

there is some sort of predecessor one can logically point to. With the pieces, there is

nothing. It is as if they appeared out of thin air.

They had to come from somewhere of course, and there are nowadays several

theories making the rounds attempting to explain their origin. I would like to present

another theory. It is both historically and structurally plausible, and can be backed up

with both kinds of argumentation.

I would like to begin this account with a schematic presentation of its

structural aspect, deferring for the moment matters of chronology. To begin, we first

need to look back to the researches of the great H.J.R. Murray. In his 1913 magnum

opus, A History of Chess, Murray devotes a good deal of attention to the ancient

Indian gambling racegames,as he believes them to be the pre-cursor of chess. These

116

games were played withdice, and square boards of 10x10, 8x8, or smaller. The whole

point of them is generallyto move one's pieces from the edge of the board, along a

circuitous path through theboard towards its centre, in accordance with throws of the

dice. If one’s piece arrives onthe same square as an opponent's piece, then the

opposing piece is captured, or forced to start again.

5

4

3

2 1

a b e d eFigure 2

Sig* boardadapted from Murray (1913)

Consider one such game. Murray notes it as having the name Siga as well as

the name Saturankam, and that it was played in southern India and Sri Lanka up to the

early 20th century.7 The board is illustrated at left, along with the movement of the

pieces. Consider a piece lying on the square b2. Let us suppose the player rolls a 3

with his dice. The piece moves b2-c4. Is this not the move of the

Knight? Let us instead suppose he rolls 4, and the piece moves b2-d4. Here we

have the move of the ancient Elephant. All of the other major and minor pieces are

easily suggested this way. The move a5- al is the Chariot's move, and a2-bl (or a2-

b3) is the Firzan. What could be simpler? Each player can have up to four pieces on

the board at the same time, making a total of eight. Considering how constricted the

{ X *\

r %

X X Xv

J X s

117

board is, having only 25 squares, the game will quickly become crowded and may

stop resembling a race game at all. Instead, there will be many pieces moving

sideways, diagonally, in all sorts of directions, with many captures. It will perhaps

come to resemble a miniature game of chess with pieces only, the moves being

decided by a throw of the dice. Even though the pieces continue to be, strictly

speaking, undifferentiated playing-counters, the net effect is that they have all sorts of

different moves under different circumstances.

My suggestion is that this general type of process was the inspiration for the

differentiated playing-pieces found in chess. No drastic mutation of the racing-move

was thus required for it, since the moves were already present in the existing game the

entire time. My thesis is that the "differentiated" pieces in the Indian race-game were

added to the Poleis game, and gave us, substantially, chess as it was to be for a

thousand and more years.

For this to happen, there would most likely have had to be an intermediate step

beforehand. Ancient Indian game-players would need to have begun thinking of the

pseudo-differentiated race-game pieces as in fact being differentiated war-games

pieces. Had they not conceived of the pieces in this way, then they would not have

been able to import them as individual entities into Poleis. Thus there would likely

have to be an intermediate game which really was a type of miniature chess with

pieces only.

At this point it might be objected that we have no historical evidence for such

an evolutionary step. It suits historical facts to a theory rather than the other way

around. To this objection, I would respond that the theoretical intermediate war-game118

has at least intuitive support, based upon observing the movements of pieces. We can

see how it could be a very likely and natural thing to happen, even if we ignore the

theory of its connection to chess. Thus, I think that this postulated intermediate game

is more likely to have really happened, and less vulnerable to any such objection

because of this consideration.

But there are many other problems of chronology. Murray was rather too hasty

in supposing that spiral race-games were played as early as the first millennium BC.

Murray's suggestion is a theory, but he later came to write as though it were

demonstrable fact. Therefore, we too should not be overly hasty in leaping over entire

millennia, which we would have to do in proposing Siga as a direct contributor to

proto-chess.

I will now present a modified version of this basic theory, which I believe is

more plausible historically, along with several reasons why I think it to be so.

Consider the Indian game of Chaupur. It is another race-game, with a similar idea to

it. Pieces race around a board, towards a destination at its centre.8 This board is

illustrated in Figure 3 (following page). Notice that the "geometrical" theory of the

origin of chesspieces can work just as well on a Chaupur-like board, in the places

where the race-pieces turn comers. In fact, it works with any race-game where there is

an element of changing direction, of turning comers. It may be even more plausible

on a Chaupur-like board, in light of the fact that none of the ancient slant moving

chess pieces moves more than two files to the side. The Elephant moves two files, the

Knight one and the Firzan one. This fact is entirely consistent with a scenario in

which the original board was only three files wide.

119

In any case, Chaupur was popular in India at roughly the same time as Siga -

that is, roughly AD 1500. But it can be argued that Chaupur has a much older

historical pedigree, old enough to have possibly come into contact with the Bactrian

Greek players of Polis. I now want to argue just this.

Figure 3Chaupur board and movement

What is today called The Royal Game of Ur is known to be very ancient,

going back four millennia to the Sumerians.9 It is also a race game, played on a

modified 3x8 board, with a similar goal: to travel through the board and bear all of

one's pieces off its edge (Figure 4). The exact path is unknown, although there have

been several attempted reconstructions. Look again at the Chaupur board in Figure 3.

It certainly looks as though it is only four 3x8 boards joined together at the end.

Chaupur boards also have specially marked squares, as does the Royal Game. In

addition to the other similarities, these considerations make it at least plausible that

Chaupur is in some way a descendant of the Royal Game. If this is so, then it would

push back considerably the possible dates for Chaupur-like games.

120

Figure 4board from royal graves at Fr

from Murray (1952)

There are other points of support for this idea. A board very similar to the Ur

board and from roughly the same date has been found at Shar-i Sokhta, 1000 km to

the east, near the southeast comer of what is today Iran. 10 This puts the game in close

geographical proximity to the Indus valley, cradle of early Indian civilization.

On the Indian side, some textual support can be found in the Indian references

to board games, dating as early as the dawn of the first millennium AD. These

references are very fragmentary and do not mention Chaupur by name. Typical is this

extract, dating from about 150 BC to the first century AD, taken from the

Mahabhashya by Patanjali, a commentary on the work of the great Indian linguist

Panini. In it, he seems to define the word “ayanayina”:

“Ayanayina: to move to the ayanaya. But we do not know what is aya, and what is anaya. The aya moves

to the right, the anaya moves to the left. If the squares (pada) of the man going to the right and left are not held by

the enemy, it is ayanaya. The man which is to move to the ayanaya is called ayanayina” 11

One can see how unclear it is. We can only gather from the word “pada” that

there is some sort of game being discussed here, with moving pieces. Renate Syed

believes that these references were to a backgammon-like game called Shaara, and

states:

121

“The earliest accounts of the shaara game, from texts dating between the second century BC and the 6th

century AD are fragmentary, but they do at least contain the information that shaara is a game of movement, in

which the stones, only being allowed to move forward, first traverse the opponent’s half of the board and then

one’s own half. It is a fight game, the aim being to “pursue” the adversary figures and to “kill” them, to play them

off the board. It is significant that even in the earliest texts the figures of one colour may only move clockwise, the

other colour only anti-clockwise... Visual representations from India depict the shaara game; an important relief

from the year 530 AD shows the god Shiva and his wife playing shaara, but the game is also illustrated in the

paintings in Ajanta, dating from the last quarter of the fifth century.” 12

In any case, I mention these supports in order to make plausible the idea that

Chaupur-like games may have been present for quite some time in India - at least far

enough back in time to have possibly met with a genuine Bactrian Greek.

This is where we return to the hybrid Indian-Greek theory of chess origins.

The above chronological proposals about Indian race games are ultimately meant to

suggest the historical plausibility of this theory. There is even more support for this

account of chess origins, because it matches other historical facts as well. We know,

for example, that Indian and Greek cultures mixed with each other on a grander scale,

in post- Alexandrian Asia. As so often happens with immigrant cultures, the Greeks

adapted to the local Indian and Iranian societies in the second and first centuries BC.

11 They began to lose their purely Greek character. Some of the most vivid evidence

of this comes from the coinage minted in the region. It was bilingual. These coins,

minted in northwest India after it had been conquered by the Graeco-Bactrian kings,

began to appear around 180 BC and remained in constant circulation until the very

last Indo-Greek king was overrun by Central Asian nomads around 50 BC. One side

of the coin was Greek and the other was a translation into Prakrit, the local Indian

language. The most common denomination was the drachm, but it was also minted in

122

the square shape of ancient Indian coins. This was a perfect fusion of two cultural

forms, and symbolizes the joining together of Greek and Indian in art, language, and

religion. All of these took on a hybrid nature during this time, to greater or lesser

extents. The art historians in particular have given a name to this Indo-Greek blend of

styles, which brought together Greek realism as shown in its classical statuary, with

eastern cultural referents such as the growing Buddhist faith. The Gandharan school

of art, based around what is now.

Kandahar, is a well-studied chapter in the history of eastern art. Since the

Indo-Greeks were able to bring together two cultures in their artwork, their language,

their religion, their entire way of life, then they must have been able to bring together

Greek and Indian in their games-play. If our historical reconstructions are correct,

then both Greek and Indian games would have been intimately familiar to them, just

as these games were to their parent cultures. It is a natural urge for gamesters to want

to combine things - just think of any number of modem chess variants that have been

created by importing fairy-pieces from some other game. Ancient gamesters were just

as adept at this as modem ones, in search of something that might be more fun and

interesting to play. It was this curiosity, inventiveness, and sophistication that

eventually led to the pastime which survives today as modem chess.

1. H. Lamer gives an excellent and thorough presentation of the source literature for Greek and Roman

board games in Realencyklopadie des classischen Allertums XIII 2, Stuttgart, 1927 in the entry “Lusoria

Tabula”. Roland G. Austin goes over some of the same ground in “Greek Board Games”, Antiquity, vol.

14, Sep 1940, pp. 257-271 and provides some interpretative comments. Austin is available on the

internet: http://www.ahs.uwaterloo.ca/~museum/Archive/Austin

2. Translation in Austin op.cit. p. 261

123

a)lla\ ga\r toio/nde ti pa/sxousin oi( a)kou/ontej e(ka/stote a(\ nu=n le/geij: h(gou=ntai di' a)peiri/an tou=

e) rwta=n kai\ a)pokri/nesqai u(po\ tou= lo/gou par' e(/kaston to\ e)rw/thma smikroVn parago/menoi,

a(qroisqe/ntwn tw=n smikrw=n e)pi\ teleuth=j tw=n lo/gwn me/ga to\ sfa/lma kai\ e)nanti/on toi=j

prw/toij a)nafai/nesqai, kai\ w(/sper u(po\ tw=n petteu/ein deinw=n oi( mh\ teleutw=ntej a)poklei/ontai

kai\ ou)k e)/xousin o(/ti fe/rwsin, ou(/tw kai\ sfei=j teleutw=ntej a)poklei/esqai kai\ ou)k e)/xein o(/ti

le/gwsin u(po\ pettei/aj au)= tau/thj tino\j e(te/raj, ou)k e)n yh/foij a)ll' e)n lo/goij:

3. e)k tou/twn ou)=n fanero\n o(/ti tw=n fu/sei h( po/lij e)sti/, kai\ o(/ti o( a)/nqrwpoj fu/sei politiko\n

zw=?on, kai\ o( a)/polij dia\ fu/sin kai\ ou) dia\ tu/xhn h)/toi fau=lo/j e)stin, h)\ krei/ttwn h)\ a)/nqrwpoj:

w(/sper kai\ o(u(f (Omh/rou loidorhqei\j a)frh/twr a)qe/mistoj a)ne/stioj: a(/ma ga\r fu/sei toiou=toj kai\

pole/mou e)piqumhth/j, a(/te per a)/zuc w)\n w(/sper e)n pettoi=j.

4. 4 Ulrich Schadler, “Latrunculi - ein verlorenes strategisches Brettspiel der ROmer” in Homo Ludens IV,

Miinchen/Salzburg, 1994, p. 56 .

5. The following is largely taken from: P. Bernard, “The Greek Kingdoms of Central Asia”, in History of

Civilizations of Central Asia, vol. 2: The Development of Sedentary and Nomadic Civilizations, 700 BC

to AD 250, eds. A.H. Dani and V.M Masson, Paris UNESCO, 1992.

6. Ulrich Schadler suggests that the game seems to have been well known at this time, in “Little Greek

Dogs in the East”, a paper presented at the Colloquium Board Games in Academia IV, Fribourg, April

2001.

7. H.J.R. Murray, A History of Chess, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1913, p. 39.

8. ibid, p. 38.

9. C. Leonard Woolley, Ur Excavations, Vol. II: The Royal Cemetery, 1934, Publications of the Joint

Expeditions of the British Museum and of the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania to

Mesopotamia. Illustration is taken from H.J.R. Murray, A History of Board Games other then Chess,

1952, Oxford. University Press, p. 20.

10. M. Pipemo and S. Salvatori, “Evidence of Western Cultural Connections from a Phase 3 Group of

Graves at Shar-I Sokhta”, in: Mesopotamien und seine Nachbarn. Berlin, Dietrich Reimer Verlag, 1987.

Murray (1913), p. 38, quoting Weber.

124

11. Renate Syed, “On the Indian Origin of Backgammon”, paper presented at the Colloquium Board Games

in Academia IV, Fribourg, April 2001. Text is from the abstract.

12. The following draws from P. Bernard, op. cit., and Malcolm Colledge, “Greek and non-Greek

Interaction, in the Art and Architecture of the Hellenistic East”, in: Hellenism in the East: The

Interaction of Greek and non-Greek Civilizations from Syria to Central Asia after Alexander, eds.

Amelie Kuhrt and Susan Sherwin, London, Duckworth, 1987, pp. 134-162

5.2 The Indian Chess

The Origin

It is believed that the game of Chess originated in India about 500 A.D. and

was popularly known as “Chaturanga". Literally, "Chaturanga" in Sanskrit, is a

combination word of "Chatur” meaning four and "Anga" meaning parts or divisions

representing "Ratha, Gaja, Turaga, and Padadi" meaning Chariots, Elephants, Horses

and Foot troopers (Infantry) respectively, which constituted the four divisions of the

Army of the Indian Kings. From India "Chaturanga" moved east to countries like

China along with Buddhism before it travelled west to Persia (Iran) where it was

called "Chatrang”. From there, through Arabs, who called it “Shatrang” it entered

Western Europe via Spain by 9th or 10th century. The various stages and details of its

transformation to the modem Chess are not known.

It is also believed that legendary Ravanasura taught “chaturanga” to his wife

Mandodari before his war with Lord Rama to simulate the actual war scenes.

The Nomenclature and some of the mles of movement of Chess pieces such

as Pawn and special Knight move of King and promotion mles of the Pawns when

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they reach 8th or 1st rank of Indian "Chaturanga” seem to have been retained in

medieval Chess played in various countries especial ly of the East.

The modern Chess spread to India during the past 60 or 70 years. Until then,

the elite in the villages and the towns played the traditional Indian Chess. The

nomenclature and rules might have varied slightly from one part of India to the other

because of the different languages spoken in different parts of the country. The details

given below pertain to the Indian chess that was being played in the state of Andhra

Pradesh in South India.

Nomenclature:

The game of Chess is called the "Chadarangam" in Telugu, which is the

spoken language of Andhra Pradesh. It is derived from the Sanskrit word

"Chaturanga". The chessboard and pieces are the same as in the modem chess.

The nomenclature given below is in the Telugu language with its translation in the

English language is second column and modem equivalent in the third column.

TELUGU ENGLISH MODERN CHESSTRANSLATION EQUIVALENT

Raju King KingManthri Minister QueenSekatu* Chariot BishopGurram Horse KnightEnugu Elephant RookBantu Soldier PawnRaju King CheckThattu Imprisonment Stalemate* Derived from Sanskrit word " Sakatam". In Rajasthan in North India, Bishop is called

“Camel “and King is called “Shaw” and “mat” is used for mate.

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Rules of the Indian Chess game:

Chess Board

The Board is the same as in Modem Chess. In modern game the Chessboard is

placed in a manner such that, the right hand comer is White. In Indian chess there is

no such rule and the board can be placed in any manner by which right hand comer

can be Black or White.

The colour and shape of Indian chess pieces

The chess pieces are generally made of light Red and light Green colours.

Placement of Pieces

In modem Chess the White Queen has to be placed in white square and the

Black Queen in Black square i.e., both the Queens face each other and also both the

Kings. In Indian Chess the King is always placed on the right side of Queen either

on d8 or el and Black King faces White Queen and Black Queen faces White King.

The rest of the pieces are placed as in modem Chess.

The Rules of Movement

Rules of movement of Queen, Rook, Knight and Bishop are identical with

those of modern chess. But the movements of King and Pawns differ sometimes from

modem chess.

Movement Rules of King:

The King has the privilege of having the movement of Knight once. This

privilege will be lost even if it is checked even once though the King might not have

moved or even when the King is under check. However, if the King moves on its

own, the King retains this privilege.

127

Rules of movement of Pawns:

The two-step initial movement of a pawn is totally absent in Indian Chess i.e.,

the Pawn always moves only one step in Indian Chess. Capturing a double - stepping

Pawn “En Passant” is also totally absent.

Promotion of Pawns:

When a Pawn reaches 8th or 1st rank it can get promoted only into the

corresponding piece e.g. Pawn reaching a8 or h8 or al or hi can become only a

Rook. Pawn reaching d8 or e8 or dl or el can become a Queen. But the number of

pieces on the board at any time cannot exceed the original number i.e. two Rooks, two

Knights, two Bishops and one Queen. Also if the white Bishop is live, pawn cannot be

promoted to get another white Bishop and similarly one cannot have two black

Bishops. Pawn reaching 8th or 1st rank remains there immovable till a corresponding

piece is captured and the pawn is converted into that piece. Pawns in d or e files are,

therefore, more valuable than Pawns in other files. A Pawn reaching bl or b8 or gl or

g8 becomes a Knight and immediately moves like a Knight.

In modem chess, when a Pawn gets all the way across the board to reach

opponent’s edge of the table, it can be promoted to any piece that the moving player

desires (except King or Pawn). Under normal circumstances, a player will want to

promote his pawn to be a Queen since that piece is most powerful and flexible. The

new piece is placed where the pawn ended its movement. Thus the player may end up

having more than one Queen or more than two Roots or Knights or Bishops on the

Board.

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The Indian Chess Opening:

In Indian Chess, both the players are allowed initially to start with one

movement each of three different pieces or three movements of the same

piece. Capturing of enemy’s piece during or by those three initial movements is not

allowed. Generally this privilege of three movements initially is used for castling of

the King as described below. In the first three moves either party is not allowed to

give a check to the King.

Castling:

The special privilege of the King to make the movement of Knight once is

quite often used to move the King to one side of the Board and this is called

“Castling” of King. This castling can be done by both the players, resulting in the

Kings occupying almost diagonally opposite positions.

For castling the steps are:

1. N £3

2. g3

3. B h3

4. K g2 (Special Move)

5. R fl

6. K gl

7. B g2

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This position can also be achieved by the following steps:

1. N f32. . . . g33. B g24. R fl5. . . . e36. K e27. K gl (Special Move)

The position of the King arrived at in “Castling” is similar to “King’s Indian Defense” played by Black in modern chess as played below.

1. N f62. . . . g63. B g74. 0-0

It may be observed that where as this configuration can be arrived in four steps

in modem chess it takes seven steps in Indian Chess.

The special moves of the King and Rook in King-side castling (short castling)

and Queen-side castling (long castling) are totally absent in Indian Chess.

The Indian game also has two basic variants called “ Maddat mari” and “Mara

mari”. In the former version any piece having a support cannot be captured and

therefore the game can take days to complete. In the latter version a piece can be

captured even if it has support like in modem chess

End game rules:

A King left with only Pawns cannot be checked. The implication of this rule is

that the weaker party with only King and Pawns can dodge defeat by not moving

Pawns and moving only the King. The stronger party has to completely restrict the

130

movement of the King without checking, force the pawns to be moved and when a

pawn gets promoted to a piece by reaching 8th or 1st rank, try then to mate the weaker

King.

When a King is left with only one piece that piece is called “Mastu” and that

single piece cannot be captured. So the single piece goes on attacking and capturing

opponent’s pieces with immunity. This is a situation, which has to be avoided by

stronger party. If the single piece happens to be Queen or Rook, the hither-to weaker

party becomes all too powerful. “Single-piece situation” with especially Queen or

Rook has to be avoided at all costs. So pawns in d or e or a and h files reaching 8th or

1st ranks have to be stopped by blocking their advance and forced into c or f or b or g

files by sacrificing a piece if necessary and blocking King’s movement before hand.

Stale-mate:

The rules regarding stale-mate in Indian chess are the same as in modem

chess.

Conclusion:

The development in Indian game is slow because of the absence of two-step

initial movement for Pawns, though it is partially compensated by allowing both

parties to have the privilege of three movements to start with. The castling in Indian

game corresponding to King’s Indian defense of Modem chess is also a little slow.

In modem game the stronger party becomes even stronger and therefore the

weaker party resigns without fighting to the end. In Indian Chess the end game rules

give the weaker party many privileges to fight back and even win against the stronger

131

party and it is a “Dharma Yuddham” (righteous battle). It definitely needs more

mental skills to win or defend in Indian chess. The prohibition on checking the King if

it is left only with the Pawns and the “Mastu” situation are worth examining quite

seriously by research-minded chess players for future modification and incorporation

in modem chess.

Indian Chess Pieces

5.3 Mancala games-topics in Mathematics and artificial Intelligence

It has been suggested that mancala is the oldest board game in the world:

evidence of mancala has been found in Africa in archaeological contexts from the

third century AD and earlier. It is still played in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, parts of

South America, and the Middle East. The basic form of the game of mancala consists

of a board with holes and counters. The term ‘mancala’ comes from an Arabic word

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meaning ‘to move’ and the game involves two players or teams taking it in turns to

drop their pieces into the holes, moving them around the board in a set direction. The

aim is to capture as many of one’s opponent’s pieces as possible. Mancala boards are

most often made from wood, but can also be made from clay, stone, pottery, animal

dung, metal, or ivory. Seeds are usually used as counters, but cowrie shells, small

stones, pottery fragments, clay balls, and marbles can also be used. Mancala is often

played without a board, with holes simply scooped out of the ground to create a

playing surface. Two-row mancala is the most popular version of the game and the

easiest to play, but there is a huge variety of different versions of the board, different

rules and different local names, and rules are always developing and changing.

Mancala is thought to have originated in either Asia or Africa. The rules in Africa are

often more complex and diverse than in Asia, suggesting it originated there. Mancala

has been played in both ritual and recreational contexts. When used in ritual, it has

been played at weddings, funerals, divination, and other ceremonies. In Uganda, the

Ganda king played mancala as part of his accession ceremony. Recreationally, the

people who play the game varies geographically - in Asia mancala is more often

played by women and children, whereas in Africa it is mainly played by men. In

several areas of Africa mancala forms part of a boy’s education and is restricted to the

period after circumcision; elsewhere it is played primarily by old men.

The family of mancala games offers opportunities for new research in both

Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence. To illustrate this, we will present an overview

of long-time known and more recent results on mancala games. Although board-

games researchers may be familiar with mancala games, the general properties of this

133

family of board games will be explained as far as they are relevant to the

understanding of the results. The results mainly reflect the mathematical

characteristics of mancala, although computer science also played a significant role in

the research presented. Next to this, research in the field of Artificial Intelligence is

included. The paper then concludes with a discussion of new research opportunities in

both Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence. These opportunities are not restricted to

pure theoretical research but include issues that allow interdisciplinary co-operation of

applied research.

Mancala games

Mancala games are board games that are played almost all over the world in

many variations. It is impossible to describe all variations here. For a detailed

overview see the books by Murray (1952) and Russ (2000). So far, all mancala games

appear to share the following properties:

a) The games are played on a board with a number of pits, usually arranged

in two or more rows. Sometimes additional pits are used that we will call

stores.

b) The games are played with a collection of equal counters (stones, seeds,

coins, or shells).

c) Players own pits, not counters. Often, a player owns all the pits on one side

of the board.

d) Moves are made by sowing, which is a form of counting (see below).

134

e) After (or during) sowing, counters can be captured. (Hence mancala games

are also called count-and-capture games.)

f) The goal of the game in general is to capture the majority of the counters.

Mostly two players are involved, but solitaire games are known as well as

games for three or more players. Moves in mancala games are made by sowing. This

means that the player who is to move, selects one of the own pits, takes all of the

counters and puts them one-by-one in the consecutive pits in clockwise or

anticlockwise direction. Sometimes, sowing is done in multiple laps, which means

that if the sowing ends in a non-empty pit, all counters of that pit are taken out and the

sowing continues until some stopping condition is encountered. In some games, a

player can continue with a new move if the sowing ends in the own store. If the

sowing involves many counters, it can reach the pit from which the sowing started. It

depends on the rules whether this pit is skipped or not. After or during sowing, a

capture may take place: the player takes all counters out of a pit and puts them in the

own store (or keeps them apart if there is no store). In some games the captured stones

are reentered into the own row of pits. The condition under which a capture can be

made and which pit is to be emptied depends on the rules of the game. Roughly

speaking, there are four types of capture:

1. Number capture: a player is allowed to capture counters when the sowing

ends in an opponent’s pit that, for example, contains 2 or 3 counters after

the sowing. In some games also all preceding pits of the opponent that

contain 2 or 3 counters can be emptied. (This rule is used in Awale and

Awari and will be called the 2-3-capture rule.)135

2. Place capture: a player is allowed to capture if the sowing ends in a

particular pit. For instance, if one ends in an own pit that was empty, the

counter in this pit and all the counters in the opposite pit of the opponent

can be captured. (This rule is used in many Asian games but also in Kalah

and will be called the opposite-capture rule.) In Indian mancala games the

results of a sowing, e.g., capture or the continuation/ termination, does not

depend on the pit in which the last counter was put, but on the next pit.

3. En-passant capture (a special form of number capture): during a players

move, the opponent can capture the counters in an own pit as soon as it

contains, for example, 4 counters.

4. Store capture (a special form of place capture): counters that, if allowed,

are put in the own store during a move are captured automatically. (This

rule is common in Dakon.)

Next to these general rules, many games have additional rules like the

“lending” of counters in some Indian games or the closing of pits in multiple-round

games like Dakon. Normally, a game is ended when one of the players has captured

the majority of the counters, or when one of the players cannot move anymore.

Mathematics of Mancala

Mancala games seem simple when it is noted that they are deterministic (no

chance involved), have perfect information (except for the difficulty of remembering

the contents of a crowded pit), and that there are not many choices per move,

commonly not more than the number of pits on one row. However, the fact that a

single move can have an effect on the contents of all pits on the board makes it136

difficult to foresee the consequences of even a few moves ahead, let alone the final

outcome of the game.

Mancala positions

A mathematical property that may give insight in the complexity of mancala

games is the number of possible positions. A position in mancala games consists of a

certain distribution of the counters over the pits of the board, but also includes the

captured counters either in the stores on the board or kept by the players if there are

no stores. Furthermore, a position includes the knowledge which player is to move

next. The number of possible positions depends on the number of pits (and stores) and

on the number of counters. This number p can be computed by the following formula

that is derived from basic combinatorics:

In this formula, k is the number of players, m is the total number of counters

and 77 is either the total number of pits and stores together or the total number of pits

incremented with the number of players if no stores are present. The number p

increases very rapidly with increasing numbers of pits and counters. The following

table shows the number of positions for a mancala board with two rows of six pits and

two stores in the case of two players.

137

Of course, the number of possible positions decreases when only the counters

still in play are regarded (as is done in for example Retschitzki’s analysis (1990)).

Only a certain number of all possible positions can actually appear during games. This

depends on the starting position of the game and on the exact rules. In the game of

Kalah (see below), only about 5% of the possible positions can appear in a real game

(Irving et ah 2000). It appears that only a few special positions of mancala games can

be understood completely in a mathematical sense. First we will look at a set of

special positions in the game of Tchoukaillon.

Tchoukaillon positions

Broline and Loeb (1995) analyse mancala with the use of an artificially

created solitaire variant of mancala: Tchoukaillon. This game was developed by

Deledicq and Popova and is played on a board with only one row of pits and with one

store at the right end of the pits. At the start, every pit except the store contains a

given number of counters. The goal is to collect all the counters in the store. Only

those moves are allowed that directly end in the store, no sowings beyond the store

are allowed. The task of solving Tchoukaillon is to find the correct order of moves

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138

that causes all counters to be put in the store. It appears that only a few positions of

Tchoukaillon can actually be solved. The following table contains the first ten of these

positions.

0 0 0 0 1 6 0 0 4 2 0 00 0 0 2 0 7 0 0 4 2 0 10 0 0 2 1 S 0 0 4 2 2 00 0 3 1 0 B 0 0 4 2 2 10 0 3 1 1 10 0 5 3 1 1 0

For every number of counters still in play, there appears to be only one

position that can be solved. To understand this, it is necessary to realise that in any

given position only one move is appropriate. If there is more than one pit that contains

just enough counters to reach the store, one has to select the rightmost of those pits. If

one selects another pit, the contents of this rightmost pit will increase by one which

means that the position cannot be solved anymore. Positions that can be solved are

called Tchoukaillon positions. These can be derived by a simple algorithm:

1) . The first Tchoukaillon position is the position with only a single counter in

the rightmost pit.

2) . Given a Tchoukaillon position, the next position can be constructed by

taking one counter of each pit, starting at the right, until an empty pit is

encountered. Put all collected counters plus one extra in this empty pit.

Tchoukaillon positions do not only play a role in this artificial game. In any

mancala game that includes the rule that a player can move again if a sowing ends in

the own store, these positions are important. These games include Kalah, Dakon,

139

Ruma Tchuka and many others. If a Tchoukaillon position occurs at the player’s side,

the player is thus able to capture all the counters in this position.

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1 0 0 0 0 00 0 4 S 1 1

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Also mancala games that use the 2-3 capture rule and have no stores (like

Wari and Awale) benefit from Tchoukaillon positions. Observe the following

endgame of Awale:

0 0 0 0 0 17 5 3 1 2 2

The bold numbers indicate the pit to move. In moves c) to k) the shaded areas

indicate the Tchoukaillon positions. By following these moves, the South player is

able to capture 8 counters. In the best case, it is possible to capture even 20 counters

using a sequence of 21 Tchoukaillon positions. The game should have reached the

following rare position with North to move: These “Tchoukaillon-endings” have some

similarities with the well-known tactics in Awale called “2-1” and “3-1” (Retschitzki,

1990; N’Guessan, 1992).

140

Tchuka Ruma

The game Tchoukaillon was derived from the existing solitaire mancala game

Tchuka Ruma. The origin of this game and where it is actually played is still subject

of scientific dispute (Campbell and Chavey, 1995). Authors refer to India, the

Philippines, and the Maldives and even to Russia. The name suggests an Indonesian

or Malay origin. Probably, the game will have been invented independently in

multiple places because the rules of the game are only a small subset of the rules of

many two-player mancala games. Tchuka Ruma can be played on any mancala board,

with or without stores. The player just selects one pit or store as the main store (the

ruma) and decides which other pits to include in the game. The goal of Tchuka Ruma

is to collect all counters in the ruma. In contrast to Tchoukaillon, sowing appears in

multiple laps and can go beyond the ruma. The game is started with an equal number

of counters in every pit. Tchuka Ruma can be played on the internet at web-page:

http://fanth.cs.unimaas.nl/games/ruma/index.html. It appears to be quite challenging

to play Ruma Tchuka. Only with a very small number of pits (up to 4) and counters

per pit (1 or 2) can most people solve the game. Just like in Tchoukaillon, not every

starting position of Tchuka Ruma can be solved. Campbell and Chavey (1995) give a

detailed analysis of the mathematics in Tchuka Ruma. They show that it is possible to

prove that some starting positions cannot be solved. For instance, if there are n pits

and k counters per pit, then there is no solution if k = (n + 1)/ with i Yft 1, or if k =

n.(n + 1)/, with i Yft 0. They also show that it is impossible to prove that a given

Tchuka-Ruma position can be solved, other than actually producing a solution. With a

little change in the rules, we can define a “solution” as the sequence of moves that

141

captures the most counters possible. In the following table, we present the number of

counters that can be maximally captured for a number of Tchuka Ruma positions.

CoiihIwu ptt jrifc 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 pit i 1 3 3 4 6 7 92jrft» i 2 1 1 10 7 14 16 4 203pit» 3 ■:*•■■■■ •IV: 1 15 17 21 24 27 304 pit* 3 s 7 2 Sfc- 24 28 32 36 405 pit* 3 m.- 14 6 2 1 35 40 45 506 pits 3 10 15 24 30 2 1 48 54 607 pit* 5« 1 14 19 27 33 13 1 1 63 70Spit* 12 24 32 40 41 9 f 1 809pta» 5 13 27 36 45 54 63 72 3 110 pit* 5 17 30 40 50 60 70 80 3011 pate 7 13 33 44 55 66 77 88 33 11012nt» f= 13 36 43 60 72 S4 36 108 120

The shaded entries in the table indicate the positions in which not all counters

on the board can be captured. The cells near the diagonal are positions in which k = n

or k = rt+l, both special cases of the formulae above. The table suggests that solutions

are more probable to exist if both the number of pits and the number of counters per

pit increase. Campbell and Chavey have checked positions up to 10 pits for very large

amount of counters (100,000). Their results confirm this suggestion. Next to finding

whether all counters can be captured, it is also interesting to know what the minimum

number of moves is that is needed to capture all possible counters. It is a trivial task to

write a computer program that finds these “optimal” solutions. Tchuka Ruma clearly

is a game that is challenging for humans, but trivial for computers. This is certainly

not the case for other mancala games like Awari and Bao.

Dakon

One of the mancala games that is connected to Tchuka Ruma is the game of

Dakon, played under different names on the Maldives, in Indonesia and at the

142

Philippines. This two-person game is played on a board with two rows of pits and two

stores. It uses sowing in multiple laps and includes the opposite-capture rule. A user

can continue with a move if a sowing ends in the own store. For the exact rules we

refer to (Donkers et al., 2000). A game of Dakon consists of multiple rounds. The first

round starts with as many counters in each pit as there are pits in each row. The

players move in turn until one player cannot move again. For the second round both

players fill the pits with the captured counters. Every pit must contain the original

amount of counters. If one player cannot fill all his pits fully, the (partial) empty pits

are covered with a leaf and disregarded in this round. A player that cannot fill a single

pit loses the game. It was discovered by hand that for Dakon with 8 pits per side, it is

possible for the first player in the first round to collect so many counters in the first

turn that the opponent is not able anymore to capture enough counters to start the next

round. So this game can be won by the first player in a single move. This means that,

mathematically spoken, this Dakon game is not a (2-person) game but a mere (1-

person) puzzle that is very similar to Tchuka Ruma. The only difference between

solving Tchuka Ruma and finding a winning sequence of moves in Dakon is that in

Dakon a player cannot select all pits to move from, but only the pits on the own side

of the board. Because one cannot select all pits it is not possible to capture all

counters in one turn. If there are n pits per side on the board then it is impossible to

capture more than n / 2° - 1 counter. This formula only provides a lower bound; the

following table shows the exact number of counters that cannot be captured for

different values of n.

143

n 4 S 6789 10 2 3 2 2 3 3 4

For a computer it is not difficult to find these correct sequences of moves in

Dakon, but for human players this is a difficult task. The fact that players were able to

find such a sequence for Dakon with n=8 are remarkable, especially because the

sequences that were found are very long: one of them counts 93 moves. In (Donkers

et al., 2000) we showed that the computer can be used to analyse how people could be

able to find these sequences. Instead of just performing the easy task of finding a

solution on the computer, we tried to mimic human cognitive behaviour.

The sequences of moves that we found in this way on the computer were

similar to the human-found sequences.

As a side step we mention that knowing that there exist winning openings does

not prevent the game from being played. With a small adaptation of the rules, Dakon

is still very challenging. One odd change that has actually been adopted in the

Philippines, is to start the first round simultaneously by both players.

Bao

The game of Bao is a popular East-African variant of mancala. This game is

also played in an officially organised way in Tanzania. Bao is played by two players

on a board with four rows of pits. Bao has no stores (though there are two special pits

in the centre of the board). Sowing is done in multiple laps. Further rules of the game

can be found in the thesis of De Voogt (1995). During the play of Bao it can happen

that a sowing seems perpetual: after some period the player resigns or some special

144

rule is applied to continue the game. So the research question can be posed whether a

sowing in Bao can indeed be perpetual. After some time, the original starting position

should reappear. It is known that in India (see the paper of dr. Balambal Ramaswamy

in these proceedings) such a perpetual sowing exists and is practised as a variant of

Pallankhuzi, called Seethi Pandi. The simplest form of perpetual sowing is on a board

with only two pits. (Of course, the trivial situation with one pit must be disregarded.)

The first pit has three counters, the second pit has one counter. If the sowing is started

with the first pit, a perpetual sequence occurs. It is not difficult to see that in the case

of two pits, perpetual sowing occurs if the larger amount of counters is a number that

is twice the smaller number plus one ((3,1), (5,2), (7,3), (9,4), and in general

(2&+1,k)). Sowing should always start with the larger amount. After each lap of

sowing, the contents of the pits have switched ((1,3)-(3,1)-(1,3)-...). If the game starts

with the seven counters in one pit and one in the other, again a perpetual sowing

occurs, but now a more complicated pattern appears: (7,1 )-(3,5)- (6,2)-(3,5)-(l,7)-

(5,3)-(2,6)-(5,3)-(7,l). The underlined numbers indicate the pit to continue with. After

eight sowings the original position reappears. We say that the period of this sowing is

eight. The following pattern has only a period of three: (9,l)-(4,6)-(7,3)-(9,l). If the

game starts with (7,2), the period of the sequence appears to be 24. A little analysis

produced the following table in which k is any positive number:

Starting position Rorlod[2k-i-1 ,k] 2[4k-t-2,k] 4[Bk-«-3.k] 3[8k-H4.k] 6[10k+S.k] 10[12k+6.k] 12

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It can be proven that all positions of the form (2a. k + a, (2b + 1 )k + b) where k

Yft ], a Tft 1 and b Yft 0, cause perpetual sowings if the sowing starts with the first

pit.) In the case of two pits, it might be possible find a formula for all possible

perpetual sowings and their periods. For larger amounts of pits, this task is much more

complex, let alone for the case of real mancala game boards with 10, 12 or more pits

involved. Bao players suggested that the board situation in which the contents of all

the pits alternate between 2 and 3 produces a perpetual sowing if one starts with a pit

with 2 counters. With the aid of a small computer program, we checked this and

discovered that it was true. The amazing thing is, that the periods of these perpetual

sowings is very large. It is not difficult to see why no one was ever able to check the

perpetual property of the sowing:

Boanlaizs Pnriod Rounds2x1 pits (no pstpstual sowing)2x2ptts 00 552x3 pits 200 1612x4pits 6)312 2,9482 x Spits 13*35 5,0392X Spits 118324 37,2712x7 pits 905)471 245,5202x8pltS 11,044,136 2,835,1412x Spits 30,010*79 8*28)0452x10plta 302,728)700 89)414)8492x11 pits 418,038)808 72,909,3332x12 pita 4)480,747*04 715,501,8752x13 pita 177361,347,042 28)386.776.635

The column titled rounds indicates the number of times that the sowing circles

the whole board before the starting position reappears. Suppose that a quick player

can do one round in one second. In case of sowing on the 2x8-pits board, which is the

common situation in Bao, the player has to continue the sowing for a complete month

before the original pattern reappears. The 2x13-pits board would take even more than

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800 years! The question remains open which other perpetual sowings can occur on

real Bao boards, but the analysis of the 2-pits board suggests that there should be

many positions that will cause perpetual sowing. A more important open question is,

whether such positions can occur during an actual game of Bao. Ethnographical

research should unveil whether perpetual sowings are actually used like in the game

of Seethi Pandi.

Mancala in Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a branch of computer science which aims to have

a computer performs what normally is considered as intelligent (human) behaviour.

There are two main motivations why this research is done: the first one is to alleviate

human efforts with computer support. The second motivation is to try to understand

how human intelligence or mental operations work through computer simulation.

Games have played an important role in Artificial Intelligence because game playing

is considered as a typically intelligent task, but also because games almost always

form a closed environment with limited possibilities and clearly defined rules. The

latter makes it for Al-researchers much easier to treat games than to treat, for instance,

the stock market. The most famous result of AI in games is of course the fact that

computers nowadays can play chess at grandmaster level and even defeated the

former world champion. In the competitive race between computer-chess programs,

many techniques have been developed that are now being applied on a regular base in

other areas of AI and computer science. One could say that games (and especially

chess) are the Formula-1 of computer science. The family of mancala games has been

147

introduced in Artificial Intelligence relatively early, although most research is

restricted to only two games: Kalah and Awari.

Kalah

The game of Kalah is a modem, commercial variant of mancala. It was

introduced in the 1950s by a firm called “The Kalah Game Company” (owned by

W.J. Champion). In 1960, a first computerized version of the game was created and

many others followed. Today, it is even possible to play Kalah (called Bantumi)

against your cellular phone (see http://www.nokia.com/games/bantumi.html). In

Artificial Intelligence, Kalah has been studied as early as 1964 by Richard Russel. He

wrote a program, called KALAH that actually could play the game. In 1968, A.G.

Bell wrote another computer program that could leam in some way from the errors

that it made. A year later, Slagle and Dixon (1969, 1970) used the game of Kalah to

illustrate another algorithm for playing games. After this period, Kalah lost the

interest of AI game researchers, that is, until last year. Using some of the advanced

techniques that were developed for chess, Irving, who is an undergraduate student at

Caltech University, was able to find the winning strategy for Kalah (Irving et al.,

2000). Kalah is played by two persons on a board with two rows of six pits and two

additional stores. At the start there are four counters per pit. It uses single-lap sowings

and the opposite-capture rule. The own store is included in the sowing, but the

opponent’s pit is skipped. A sowing that ends in the own store grants the player

another move. In some of the Kalah programs the pit from which a sowing starts is

skipped during a large sowing, but in other implementations it is not. The game ends

if one of the players cannot move anymore. The other player then captures all

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counters in the own pits. The player who captured the most counters wins. It is

possible to bend the rules of Kalah a little and to play Kalah with less or more

counters per pit, or with another number of pits per row. The following table shows

the game-theoretic value of Kalah-instances, i.e., whether the starting player can win

the game, will lose it or whether the game is a draw if both players play optimally.

The smaller instances of Kalah were solved by considering every possible

position that actually can arise during a game of Kalah. Databases were created in

which every position and its game-theoretic value is stored. The larger instances of

Kalah were solved by game-tree search. For these instances, only a winning strategy

from the opening position is known explicitly. The program is however able to find an

optimal strategy for every position that can occur during a game of Kalah. This means

that Kalah is not of interest anymore for those AI researchers that want the computer

to play the game of Kalah as substitutes or superiors of humans. However, for those

AI researchers and game psychologists who are interested in the human aspect of

game playing, the results that were collected for Kalah remain useful.

Awari

The other mancala game that gained interest from AI game researchers is

Awari. This game is played in West Africa and the West Indies. Awari is also known

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as Wari or Awale. Awari is played on a board with two rows of six pits and no stores.

Sowing happens in single laps and captures are of the 2-3 type. If the opponent has no

more counters available, a player should select a move that brings new counters to the

opponent’s pits. If this is not possible, the game is over. In Awari as it was

programmed, the pit from which a sowing starts is not excluded during a long sowing

(with 12 or more counters), in other variants of this game this pit is skipped. This

difference in rules is important for the construction of kroo’s. These are pits with so

many counters in it that a sowing travels the board one and a halve turn. In this way

many counters can be captured in one move. Building and playing a kroo is an

important strategem in Awari. The interest in Awari started in the AI community by

the construction of a program called OLITHIDION’ (Van der Meulen el al., 1990)

and has been growing steadily since then. The game of Awari is the only mancala

game that is played on the computer olympiad. This is an event in which all kind of

computer programs compete in several classical games like Chess, Checkers, and Go,

but also in new and artificial games like Hex and Lines of Action. Last year saw the

fifth edition of the computer olympiad and Awari has seen competition all five times.

Although Awari is played with the same amount of pits and the same amount of

counters per pit as Kalah, it appears that Awari is more difficult for the computer than

Kalah. Since Kalah is originally designed as a children’s game and Awari is mostly

played by adults, it seems that Awari is the more difficult game for humans too. One

way to understand this is the fact that in Kalah counters are automatically captured if

a sowing passes the stores. This means that in Kalah a repetition of positions is not

possible. Therefore, a game of Kalah will on average last shorter than a game of

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Awari. The number of choices in Awari and Kalah are the same, so the total game of

Kalah must be easier than Awari. The fact that a student has solved Kalah, but several

competing teams of AI researchers were still not able to solve Awari despite the

serious efforts done in this direction, also illustrates this. In the competition for

solving Awari, one strategy of the participating teams is to build large end-game

databases. These databases contain for a huge number of board positions how many

counters can be captured and which move is the best to play. The team of Lincke

(2000) already has constructed the databases that contain all board positions with 35

or less counters still in play. It is sure that it is impossible to create a complete

database with all possible positions. The expectation is that soon the game-tree search

from the starting position and the end-game database will meat in the middle.

Conclusions

Mancala games can pose many questions to mathematicians. Only a few

questions have yet been put forward and some of them were answered with or without

the support of computer science. In a few cases these answers can help in developing

better strategies for playing mancala (the Tchoukaillon positions), many others are

less relevant for players (the perpetual sowings). We hope that this paper will inspire

the reader to pose further questions. The researchers in Artificial Intelligence have

only looked at a few mancala games. The rich family of mancala games provides

games that differ much from Awari and Kalah, both in complexity and in strategy. For

those AI researchers that want to play or solve new games on their computers,

mancala games offer many opportunities. Some of the questions that might be worth

to be answered by AI researchers are:

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- What is the effect of a rule on the complexity of a mancala game (for

different types of complexity)?

Is it possible to predict the complexity of a mancala game on base of a

given set of rules?

What heuristics can be used for playing mancala games by a computer?

- How should special rules be handled like the lending of counters, covering

a pit, or cheating’?

Mancala games also offer opportunities for interdisciplinary research. In our

research on Dakon we showed that the computer can be used to assist cognitive

psychological research. Retschitzky and N’Guessan used an intelligent computer

program to investigate learning processes in players. The program was only used as a

fixed partner to play against. In (Donkers et al, 2001) a game algorithm is proposed

that uses knowledge on the opponent. This algorithm can in principle also be used to

determine the strategy that a (human) player is using against a computer. It could

therefore be used in a developmental-psychological research on the learning of

mancala games by children.

5.4 Dice Play

The origin of the well-known dice play, like many other ancient Indian games

is muffled into the hazy mist of antiquity. Earliest archaeological evidence of it we

find in the excavations of Mohenjodaro and Harappa wherein have been unearthed

numbers of clay and ivory dice pieces of which the former ones were all well-baked

and even painted. References to dice game are in abundance in early literature. Both

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the Rigveda and Atharvaveda speak of the prevalence of dice made out of vibhidaka

(terminalia bellerics) nuts and its play at several places. It formed part of the

ritualistic ceremonies like Rajasuya. In such ritual games, no specification about the

material of the dice is made, but instances of the usage of the gold imitations of

vibhidaka nuts are in evidence. But no where Vedic literature refers to the use of

cowries as dice.

Vedic literature accords only scanty account of the method of playing dice in

the Vedic spell. The Rigvada delineates the dicer as “Leader of a great horde”

(Senanirmahato ganasya) and gives the number of dice used in the gambling as

tripancasah, while the Taittiriya Brahmana (1-7-10) clearly points out to a passage

where a reference is made to the play with five dice. But modem scholars like Mrs.

Ludwig, Weber and Zimmer on the contrary, opine that many dice would have been

used in the gambling and this surmise in all probability may but hold good.

However, Vedic literature does not speak of the use of the dice board. But in

Vedic time dice were thrown on the depression (adnidevana) or (Irina) made in the

ground. No dice box was used but reference is made to a case for keeping dice in

aksa-vapana

The throw was known as Graha or Grabha. The stake was called vij. The

four sides of the aksa or dice had varied names: the side marked with one points was

kali, that with two point’s dvapara that with three point’s treta and that with four

points was called krta. In some games treta and in others kali was counted as the

highest throw. However the nature of the throws still gropes in obscurity. The St.

Petersburg Dictionary postulates that the names given above were meant to indicate153

either dice marked 4,3,2 and 1 or the sides of the dice so marked. Commentators like

Nilakantha, have supported the later interpretation. In the Mahabharata we get terms

like dyuta and durodara. There is a Sutra in Panini’s Grammar “atea Salaka samkhya

parina”. Evidently thereby in Paninis time (6th c B.C.) Salaka was used in gambling.

In the commentary on the Narada Smrti (6.1) the meaning of Salaka is given as a

four-side bar made of ivory. The Dasakumaracharita refers to the various kinds of

gambling.

Apart from the Vedic and Puranic evidences, Jatakas also make mention of

gambling with dice (1.151,221; 11, 61,131, Vi.171; 133, 137) the names of throws of

dice (VI 137) and of magic dice (II. 175) Buddhist literature enumerates the games

like Atthapada and Dasapada. Atthapada was a kind of gambling. It is now known

as Chaturanga-Indian chess. Buddhagosha has explained this term in his commentary

on Dighanikaya-Sumangala Vilasini as a game played on boards with eight rows

having eight squares for each row. It may mean any other game like draught from

which the modem game of chess has developed. We get clear mention of it in the

Hara Vijaya Mahakavya of Rajanaka Rattakara who flourished in 9th cent. A.D.

Dasapada was a game similar to Atthapada and it was played with a board of eleven

lines having ten squares in each row.

Interestingly, a bas-relief on the Bharhut rails portrays a scene where two men

are sitting face to face. There is a board in front of them which has six times five

squares and six little cubes with marks on the sides lying outside the board.

Apart from these literary and iconographic gleanings, excavations at many

historic places have brought to light number of dice and game boards revealing154

thereby the popularity of such dice play in historic period. Excavations at Taxila have

yielded a number of dice datable to Greek and Saka Parthian periods. They are

mostly of ivory, bone, slate and terracotta and invariably oblong is shape. The dice

are indicated with numbers 4, 3, 2 and 1 on all four sides by way of concentric

circle4s of simple dots. But no chess board is reported to have been discovered at

Taxila.

Excavations at Kumarahar have disclosed to view dice of terracotta and ivory

from period IV (300 A.D. to 450 A.D) Excavations at Nagarjunakonda, a famous

Buddhist site in Andhra Pradesh, have thrown a lucid light on the dice play. Besides

semidry ivory dice with points incised on them in accordance with those known in

Vedic India, traces of game boards on some of the basement slabs and ghat steps are

delineated from both religious and secular building of Nagarjunakonda. About twenty

dice made out of ivory are evidenced at Ikshvaku level. Majority of them bear

concentric circles while the others are marked out with a simple dot within a circle.

The average length of the dice recovered is 6 cms. The disclosure of such dice and

game boards from the excavations bespeaks the social life of the people of the day.

Among the building of Nagarjunakonda that bear the traces of game boards, bathing

ghat, burning ghat area and a Mandapa connected to fours poked stupa need mention

here.

To the west of Pushpabhadravami Temple and on the river bank of Krishna is

located the bathing ghat. This elaborate ghat measuring 100’ x 300’ id provided with

flights of balustrade steps and terraces. The core of the structure is built of brick in

lime and is securely lined with Cuddapah slabs perhaps for preserving it from the on-

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rush of waters. The slabs besides bearing inscriptions and masons, marks contain a

line drawing of game board. As the diagram, shows the game board consists of eight

rows having eight squares in each row. Evidently this is meant for playing ‘Attapada’

a game which was referred to as very popular by Buddhagosha in his commentary.

This game was favored by Ikshvaku rulers as well (A.D. 25-310)

On the northern slope of the Nagarjunakonda hill and overlooking the river

Krishna are situated structures pertaining to the burning ghat of Ikshvakus. In the

same area, a forty-eight-pillared hall also was disclosed to view. On some of the

flooring slabs of this Mandapa are incised figures of game boards in rows of two,

three and five consisting of same number of squares in each respective row. The

mode of play with this kind of game board may resemble the modem game “Pachisi

Besides, another game board which is fragmentary is seen on the mandapa

flooring slab near four-spoked stupa. From the extant portion of the board, it can be

taken as one generally used for Attapada play.

These games were not uncommon in ancient India. Numerous instances are

there to cite of games like chess, dice etc. played in the club houses. The Vedic and

Smrti literature vividly points out those gambling houses were managed by the state.

The Arthasastra advocates the strict control of gambling. Buddhist, Jain and

Brahmanical literatures speak of the existence of gambling houses at several places.

There is not much disparity between the games played in ancient and modem times.

The modem games like “Zanabetha” “Pulijudam”, “Attachamma” and “Pachisf'

reveal their close affinity too many of the ancient games. The games Attachamma

and Pachisi have closer affinity to the ancient Indian games of Attapada or Dasapada156

dice play. In all probability, these modem games are only derivatives of those ancient

games and have come down to us. At Nagaijunakonda, the evidence supplied from

the excavations confirms the continuance of the ancient tradition of the chess play in

India as a popular game. This incidentally helps us in constructing the social history

of the Ikshvaku people in the matter of amusements.

5.5 Dyutam - Gambling

In the Bhagavad-gita, Tenth Chapter you will find that Lord Sri Krishna says,

dyutam chalayatam asmi: 'Amongst the all kinds of cheating professions, I am

gambling.' Krishna says that 'Amongst all kinds of cheating business, I am gambling.'

Gambling... There is in gambling... It requires some expert brain, how to play

gamble. So that expertness, that part of expert endeavour, is Krishna. So we should

not think, 'Oh, because Krishna is gambling also, so let us engage and devote in

gambling.' No. Krishna is everything. Krishna is everything, but we have to select

favourably, not unfavourably. Svalpam khalv idam brahma. Without Brahman,

without Krishna, nothing can exist. Everything existing on his energy. The same

example can be given that every department is government department. Therefore, if

a prisoner says, 'Yes, I am in government department,' that sort of knowledge is not

very good. 'Because prison department is also criminal department, is also

government department, so instead of becoming in the university department, let me

go to the criminal department,' that is not congenial."(Prabhupada's Lectures, New

York, Caitanya-caritamrta 1967).

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Chance plays a great part in human life and no wonder if man tried to gain

some knowledge of future events through games of chance and also adopted

them as means of recreation. Giving instances from many ancient and modern

races, E. S. Hartland has rightly pointed out: "Gambling is a passion confined

to no race or country, to no rank of society, to no plane of civilisation".

Beginning from the famous hymn of the R. V., Indian literature provides

innumerable instances of gambling. The Nilamata prescribes gambling on

Dipavali, to know the goodness or otherwise of the coming year for the

players. The belief still exists in various provinces of India but has gone away

from Kasmira. The neighbouring land of Tibet has it in the form of annual

gambling ceremony wherein the Grand Lama at Lhasa plays dice with the

demon and by defeating him announces good luck for the coming year.

Gambling Has Roots in Most of the World's Religions

When it comes to gambling on reservations, there are generally two camps.

Proponents believe that reservation casinos are conducive to self-sufficiency and

autonomy, while opponents believe that gambling is destructive to the socio­

economic fabric of a community, not to mention what it does to the individual.

Gambling proponents are criticized for their immorality, but they themselves will

argue that economics and spirituality are separate issues, and that the real issue is

power.

The gambling controversy appears to be a conundrum,(riddle) but as a wise

man once said, "Truth is what the opposites have in common," and the middle ground

in this case is indeed spirituality. The dominant religions of the world judge gambling

on a moral basis, claiming that it has secular origins. But not too long ago, gambling

on many reservations was intricately connected with religious rites and festivals and,

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in fact, such sacred gambling also lies at the root of Western religious development.

Although it may seem to be a contradiction in terms, gambling is as spiritual as

praying. Both activities seek divine affirmation and reversal of fortune.

Archaeological Records Equate Dice with Cycle of Death and Rebirth

No historical period or culture on the globe lacks the means for gambling, and

it was often associated with death and rebirth. One Egyptian tomb-painting (c. 3500

BCE) depicts a nobleman in his after—life playing a dice board game of hounds and

jackals. A Sumerian board game was found in a royal cemetery dated to circa 2600

BCE. Antelope anklebones, presumed to have been used as dice, are often found in

prehistoric tombs and burial caves around the world, perhaps for afterlife recreation,

or so the dead could "re-create" life. Icelandic and Hindu mythology mirror many

Native American myths that claim that the gods destroy and recreate the world on a

dice board.

The moral judgment of gambling as a sin in Western thinking might have

begun in Roman times when citizens bet future wages, homes, wives, and children at

the gaming tables, prompting legislators to establish antigambling laws. Throughout

the Dark Ages the Church vigorously and unsuccessfully blasted against gaming as a

vice, or because it was too closely woven to the gods of the pagan religions. Sir Petty

in the seventeenth century argued that the Sovereign should guard "gamblers, lunatics,

and idiots" from their own worst instincts. That's when Pascal and colleagues worked

out the mathematical probability of the fall of the dice. The theory of probability

promoted a new confidence in gamblers, as if reason could override chance, of

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particular interest to insurance underwriters. Thus, gambling and spirituality were

forever severed in Western thought.

Gambling, across the board, was originally considered to be a means by which

devotees could contact the deities, with one overriding exception in approach:

gamblers in the Old World cast lots to divine the will of the gods and to forecast the

future, while Native Americans played gambling games to come into harmony with

their universe.

Ritual Gambling Brings Harmony to Cosmos in a Hundred Myths Surveyed

A survey has been carried out and collected more than hundred gambling

myths originating from various parts of the world.

In North America

The primary message appears to be that gambling, within a traditional context

for such purposes as weather control, bringing back the sun, the plants, the buffalo, or

the health of an individual or group was sanctioned, but that gambling outside of this

context was dangerous for the well-being of the gambler as well as the community

and the cosmos. For instance, in gaming mythology, when humans go up against the

super beings, the stakes include all of one's possessions, slavery, arms, legs, eyes, and

heads—often in that order. Whole tribes and worlds are often destroyed and it is up to

the hero gambler to restore them. The Paviotso myth demonstrates the point:

Paviotso Myth: While hunting one day, a boy is told by a little bird that

Centipede has killed all of his people through gambling, cut out and dried

their hearts, and strung up all their hands together, burning the rest of their

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bodies. The bird instructs the youth in how to beat the gambler. With the help

of owl and gopher, the youth wins. He throws Centipede into the fire and

plants the dried hearts in the damp earth. His people are restored on the third

sunrise

Lilliooet Myth: An old woman tells a bankrupt gambler to go to the mountains and

train for four years. At the end of that period, he goes to a lake where, on the other

side, are two underground houses; good people live in one house, cannibals in the

other. He enters the house of the good people, whereupon the chief readies him for

gambling by whipping him four times, washing him, and giving him his two

daughters. The gambler then enters the other house, where he stakes his two wives

against the two daughters and property of the bad chief, and wins. The gambler

returns the property to the bad chief but keeps the daughters as wives. Now he has

four women who each bear him a daughter. He returns home and enjoys infamy as a

great gambler. When a man asks the gambler his secrets, he sends him directly to the

cannibal people. And since this gambler has not prepared himself, he is eaten.

Gambling Myth in Ancient Hindu Mahabharata

Analogous to the "test theme" gambling myths of the Americas is the ancient

Hindu text called the Mahabharata. Two cousins play dice to determine the rightful

heir to the throne. The initial loser, Yudhisthira, is the son of Dharma, considered to

be the God of Universal Law (cause and effect). Yudhisthira undergoes a thirteen-

year sojourn through the forest, during which time he learns volumes of spiritual

principles (all of which are in the Mahabharata). Only after he passes certain tests

presented by deities can he return to take his rightful place as ruler of the universe.

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This dharmic action, is analogous to "right gambling" described in the also in North

American myths.

Gambling a Metaphor for Balance in the Continuum, Death, and Rebirth

It is a common occurrence for many figures in Native American mythology to

play alternate roles as a good gambler or bad. Gambling stories aren't about good

versus evil, but that good and evil are part of a continuum that must stay in balance. In

fact, the bad gambler isn't always killed, but is whittled down to a more manageable

force. On the other hand, after the Navajo Great Gambler is defeated, he is shot into

the air where he transfigures from an enemy into a god of a whole new race of people.

Nature's continuous flow between birth, death, and rebirth is mimicked in the constant

ebb and flow of game playing between two sides.

With this backdrop, we try to examine whether the famous dicing game of

Mahabharata depicted in Sabha Parvan was really a cheating? Or an accepted

cheating? Was it Dharmic to play a gambling? Was gambling a social ethos?

Dharma, according to Yudhishtiraas conception, is a god. Dharma is also Law

- not only the law that governs the states and affairs of men, but also moral law and

natural law. Dharma is the field on which all karmic action unfolds. This we sow, thus

we tend the crop, so we reap. Dharma controls all that; it is dharma in which it all

happens. The concept of dharma is not rigid, like the western concept of Fate, but it

recognizes the power of individual determination. That determination is expressed

through sacrifices and austerities, and if it is intense enough, it can alter the karmic

balance.

162

At this point in the story, if Duryodhana had followed through on his vow,

released hold of everything but his hatred, and nourished that until his body rose in

bright flame, the Pandavas could have been goners, (a person in desperate straits) and

we would have had a different story. But now Duryodhana listened to Sakuni, and we

have the Mahabharata.

The Game of Dice

Sakuni was Duryodhanaas uncle, younger brother of Dhritarashtraas wife, the

virtuous Gandhari. He was shrewd and unscrupulous, well known in the courts of

Hastinapura and Indraprasta as an expert dice player. He proposed to invite the

Pandavas to a game of dice and exploit Yudhishtiraas inability to resist a challenge.

Sakuni was confident that he could defeat Yudhishtira, and Duryodhana could take in

a game what he could not take on the field of war.

They sent old Vidura with the invitation to play. Vidura was honest as the day

is long and boring as scripture. Tiresome as he was, he loved the Pandavas.

"They want you to come to a game of dice, " Vidura told Yudhishtira.

"How kind of them," said Yudhishtira. "Of course we will come."

"But you must not play the dice, Yudhishtira. Gambling is wrong."

Yudhishtira said, "Uncle, you know that I may not refuse a challenge."

"You know they will cheat," said Vidura.

"I may not refuse a challenge."

Duryodhana built a new assembly hall in which to hold the contest, and he

invited all the kings to attend. The Pandavas travelled to Hastinapura with their wife163

Draupadi, but without Krishna, who was busy fighting other wars elsewhere.

Draupadi retired to her quarters, and Yudhishtira and his brothers entered the

assembly hall.

"Have you come to play dice," demanded Duryodhana.

"A king may not lawfully refuse a challenge from another king," said Lord

Dharma.

"I challenge you," said Duryodhana.

"I will play."

"My uncle Sakuni will cast the dice for me," said Duryodhana.

"Isnat that a bit unorthodox?" asked Yudhishtira.

"Do you refuse to play?" challenged Duryodhana.

"What will be, must be," said Yudhishtira. "Let us play. I will offer this

magnificent golden chain as my stake."

Yudhishtira lost, of course. The dice they played was not our modem game of

pure chance, but a game that involved number skills and quick hands, and Sakuni was

an expert. And he cheated. Probably, it is not possible to know how he cheated.

Yudhishtira lost everything - his palaces and lands and herds, his chariots and his

servants, the very clothes on his back.

Sakuni said, "Do you want to play again?"

"I have nothing left to stake," said Yudhishtira.

"You have your brothers."

164

There was an audible gasp from the audience. Yudhishtira was clearly shaken,

but he remained steady. He spoke to Duryodhana.

"Prince, consider. Is this lawful and wise?"

Duryodhana gave him that look, between a smile and a sneer.

"You are Lord Dharma. Do you refuse to play?"

"So it will be," said Yudhishtira.

In quick order, they were all gone. Steadfast Nakula and Sahadeva, the

splendid swordsmen; mighty Bhima, Wolf-Belly; Arjuna, Lord of Victory, the Left-

handed Archer; each in turn was stripped of his weapons and his warrioras garb and

sent to kneel among the servants. Yudhishtira had only himself to lose, and when

Duryodhana challenged him to stake his own liberty, he lost that too.

Sakuni said, "Do you want to play again?"

"What is left?" said Yudhishtira, wearily.

"Your wife."

"Play."

"No!" "Yudhishtira, you must not " "Yudhishtira, you have carried this too far." "This

must not be allowed." Murmers of protest and repulsion came from the assembled kings. But

the fierce insanity of the gambler on a roll blazed from Sakunias eyes, and Duryodhana was

virtually trembling in anticipation of his total triumph. With a sweeping, humiliating gesture,

Sakuni played.

165

There, lave won again," said Sakuni.

Duryodhana cried. "We will make her into a serving maid, and she can clean the

palace. Vidura, go fetch Draupadi."

But Vidura refused, chastising Duryodhana. "Fool, donat you realize that you are

playing with fire. You are behaving like a child; you are a deer rousing tigers."

"Vidura still fears the stupid Pandavas." Duryodhana summoned a servant.

"Pratikami, go fetch Draupadi."

But when Pratikami went to fetch her, Draupadi refused to come. "First," she

commanded the servant, "ask Yudhishtira this question - did you lose me before or after you

lost yourself? Bring me his answer, and I will come with you."

When Pratikami returned to the assembly hall without Draupadi, Duryodhana was

furious. "Duhsasana!" He called his brother.

"Yudhishtiraas whore demands an answer. Go, tell her that she is legally won, and

bring her here."

Duhsasana had to subdue Draupadi by force. He dragged her out of the

womenas quarters and into the assembly hall by her hair. And there, in front of all the

kings and the defeated Pandavas, he mocked her, called her whore for having five

husbands, and vowed to have his way with her. Then, as Draupadi stood helpless, clad

only in a nightgown, weeping with shame and rage, Duhsasana ripped her gown from

her to expose her nakedness.

But she was not naked. She was still clad in her simple shift. Cursing,

Duhsasana reached out again and ripped it off.

166

And Draupadi was still not naked.

Again and again Duhsasana ripped Draupadias clothes away, until the floor of

the assembly hall was littered in a rainbow of gowns. And she was still not naked.

Absolute silence descended on the assembly hall. There were only two people in the

whole world. There was Draupadi, clothed in the lawfulness of her rage. There was

Duhsasana, exhausted and suddenly afraid. And then Bhima rose. In the silence, the

vow that he spoke then echoed through every corner of the three worlds.

"Duhsasana, when the final battle comes, I will tear your chest open and drink your

blood"

"King!" Draupadi broke in and addressed Dhritarashtra directly. "Father-in-law I call

you, for you have been a law-wise father to your brother Panduas sons, my husbands. When

Yudhishtira lost himself, he lost the right to lose me. My husbands are lost, but I am free. Will

you protect your daughter-in-law when she has lost her husbands? Great king, you must

answer."

"Father!" Duryodhana interrupted her. "Draupadi is lawfully won. You must not

listen to her harlotas tricks." And he flashed his left thigh at Draupadi - the Sanskrit

equivalent of an obscene gesture - and glared at Bhima.

Again, a shocked silence fell, and all the worlds shook with Bhimaas second

vow.

"Duryodhana, I will crush that thigh with my club before I kill you."

Dhritarashtra, deep in his blindness, lost in his love for his sons, his and

Gandharias, suddenly felt cold with fear, fear for his sons.

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Draupadi, daughter, you are free. Ask a boon.

"Set Yudhishtira free."

"Yudishtira is free," said the King. "Ask another boon."

"Nakula, Sahadeva, Bhima and Arjuna - set them free."

"They are free; let their chariots and armor be returned. Draupadi, you may ask a third

boon."

"With my husbands free, I need no further boon. Everything I need, they will win for

me with their strong arms."

"Excellent answer, excellent answer," murmered the assembled kings.

"All that Yudhishtira lost will be restored," said King Dhritarashtra. "You may return

to your kingdom in safety, your fortunes intact."

"Old blind fool," muttered Duhsasana.

"Scared rabbit," sneered Sakuni.

"I canat believe he did that!" moaned Duryodhana.

"Father," he pleaded. "Send after them; let us have one more round of dice."

These were the stakes that Duryodhana proposed to settle the game. They

would play one round; the losing party must spend twelve years in the forest, in exile,

clothed as hermits, then a thirteenth year among the people, in disguise. If they should

be discovered during the thirteenth year, they would have to spend another twelve

years in exile. If they are able to escape detection, then the kingdom becomes theirs.

Of course Yudhishtira agreed to play, and of course he lost again, and a new

phase of the Pandavasa lives began, the years of forest exile

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But then the year was over, the vanavasa ended, and Duryodhana, predictably,

refused to relinquish the kingdom.

The third Dice game:

Mahabharata states that after Yudhishthir had lost everything in the first dice

game, the repentant Dhritarashtra gave him back all that he had staked. When the

Pandavas were returning to Indraprasth, Dhritarashtra - at Duryodhan’s insistence -

summoned them once again for another game of dice. Yudhishthir lost this second

dice game too and, as its consequence, the Pandavs went into exile.

What type of game did Shakuni and Yudhishthir play? They had no counter

and no game-board. Either side would announce a stake and throw the dice. He whose

throw was greater won. The dice-game chapter of the Sabha Parva (Book of the

Assembly Hall) states that on each occasion after hearing Yudhishthir announce the

stake, Shakuni cheated while throwing the dice exclaiming, “Fve won” every time.

This makes it clear that with each throw of dice a turn of the game was complete.

Many do not know that, a few days before the Kurukshetra war, Yudhisthir

had played yet once more at dice with Shakuni.

One morning, twenty-five days before the Kurukshetra war, Yudhisthir was in

his camp listening to Sahadev reading out the list of provisions when the guard

announced, “Dharamaraj, a well-dressed hunchback seeks audience. He will not give

his name and says that his message is most secret, to be delivered only in person.”

“Bring him in at once,” said Yudhishthir. The visitor was old, with a crooked back, a

wrinkled, clean-shaven face, a huge turban on his head, a blue necklace round his neck and

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wore a long shirt over loose pyjamas. Touching folded hands to his forehead he said, “Hail to

Dharmaraj Yudhishthir!”

Yudhishthir asked him, “Who are you, venerable one?”

The visitor replied, “Maharaj, forgive my impertinence, but my words are only for the

royal ears.”

Yudhishthir said, “Sahadev, you may leave now.” Annoyed, Sahadev left plagued by

a nagging suspicion.

The visitor spoke softly, “Maharaj, I am Subal’s son Matkuni, Shakuni’s step­

brother.”

“What! You are our venerable maternal uncle! Pranam, pranam—how fortunate we

are! Pray be seated on this lion-throne.”

“No Maharaj, this low seat suits me.”

“Alright, alright! Then sit on this jackal-skin covered seat. Now kindly state what

brings you here. Uncle, I have not ever seen you earlier.”

“How would you, Maharaj! 1 live in secret. Moreover, the last thirteen years I have

been abroad. My hunch does not permit me to follow Kshatriya mores. Therefore, I have

acquired proficiency in magical arts. The divine architect Vishvakarma has blessed me with a

boon. Eldest of Pandavs, I hear you are extraordinarily adept at gambling and the very heart

of dice lies on your fingertips”.

“Hmmm... So people do say.”

“Yet you have been worsted by Shakuni. Do you know why?’

Frowning, Yudhishthir said, “Shakuni defeated me by cheating unrighteously.”

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With a lop-sided smile Matkuni responded, “In dicing there’s nothing like cheating

and playing fair. The dice-game where both parties depend wholly on luck is termed ‘fair’. If

one player depends on luck and the other wins by his own efforts, then the defeated party

usually complains of cheating. Dharmaraj, your luck lost to the dice thrown by Shakuni’s

prowess. If you take recourse to a mightier force, against Ravana use Rama, the goddess of

dice will garland you alone.”

“Uncle, I fail to grasp your drift.”

“Son of Dharma! Listen to a secret: I made Shakuni’s dice. Within it I have

established a mantric power because of which its throw is infallible. Wicked Shakuni, having

learnt the art from me, discarded me like an elephant excreting a wood-apple. He had assured

me that, after exiling the Pandavas, Duryodhan would install me on the throne of Indraprasth.

After you left for the forest, when I reminded Duryodhan of the promise he said, “I know

nothing. Speak to Uncle.” Shakuni said, “What do I know? Go to Duryodhan.” Ultimately,

these two despicable creatures using tricks and force consigned me to the dungeons of far-off

Bahlik country. After thirteen years, somehow I managed to escape and have sought

sanctuary with you. Dwarf-like I aspired for the Indraprasth-moon. Because I sought

Indraprasth, I have suffered such calamity. After you are victorious, if you give me the

Gandhar Kingdom by driving away Shakuni, I want nothing more.”

“As reward for the disaster piled on my head by your dice?”

Matkuni quickly looked away and said, “Please don’t raise that topic again, Maharaj.

Hear me out. I have received confidential information that Sanjay, sent by Dhritarashtra, is

about to arrive here. Egged on by Duryodhan and Shakuni the blind king is summoning you

once again to a dice game. Maharaj, do not let this great opportunity slip by”.

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Just then, the grinding of chariot wheels was heard. Matkuni anxiously said, “There,

Sanjay has arrived. I beg you, Maharaj, please do not reject Dhritarashtra’s proposal out of

hand. Say that you will reply later after considering the matter. When Sanjay has left, I will

tell you everything. For the present, I am hiding in the next room.” After the usual formalities

of enquiring after their welfare, Sanjay broached the reason for his arrival:

“O best of Pandavs, I am but the messenger, do not blame me. Dhritarashtra has said

thus:

‘Yudhishthir my son, the five of you are as dear to me as my hundred sons. It

is my bounden duty to prevent this destructive fratricidal war at any cost. I

am powerless, old and blind; my sons are disobedient and eager for battle.

After racking my brains, I have decided that instead of violent armed

confrontation it is the non-violent dice-game that can resolve the enmity of

both parties. With great difficulty I have been able to get my sons and their

friends to consent to this arrangement. Hence, come with all your dear ones

to the Kaurav camp and once again engage in a throw of dice with the same

stake as last time: the Kuru-Pandav Kingdom. If Duryodhan’s representative

Shakuni loses, the Kauravs will leave the kingdom with their retinue for the

forests forever. If you lose, then you too will have to give up hope of

kingdom and retire to the forest permanently. My son, do not fear deception. I

will keep ready two sets of dice. You can with your own hands select one.

Shakuni will play with the other dice.’

‘What can be more unexceptionable than this arrangement? I anxiously wait

to hear from Sanjay of your concurrence. My dear Yudhishthir, may your

discrimination work for the welfare of your five brothers and saving the lives

of eighteen akshauhinis along with the Kuru-Pandavs.”’

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Yudhishthir said, “Inform the Kuru monarch that he has put before me an

extremely difficult problem. I will reply to him after carefully considering the

matter. Now please rest and have food. Return tomorrow.”

“No, Maharaj, I have to return immediately. Rest is out of the question.

Victory to Dharma’s son!” Saying this, Sanjay took leave.

Emerging from the side-door Matkuni said, “Maharaj, your reply has been correct.

Now listen carefully to my advice. This very afternoon dispatch a trusted emissary to

Dhritarashtra without letting your brothers know. Your messenger will say, ‘O venerable

eldest uncle, your word is my command. Even though most detestable, I accept this third dice-

game. I do not require your dice and will depend on my own. Shakuni too will play with his

own. I also accept the stake you have proposed. Only one condition I beg you to accept:

Shakuni and I will both play with only one dice each and the dice will be thrown only thrice.

Whoever’s cumulative throw is greater, will win.”

Yudhishthir said, “O Subal’s son Matkuni, you are my maternal uncle by relation, but now it

seems you are senile. How dare I challenge Shakuni once again? If you provide me with dice

like Shakuni’s, then the encounter will be between equals. But even then, where is the

assurance of my victory? What is the reason for objecting to the dice arranged by

Dhritarashtra? What is the intention behind restricting the game to three throws when the

greater the number of throws the more the chance of accumulating greater numbers? And

what is the proof that you are not Duryodhan’s spy?”

Matkuni replied, “Maharaj! Peace - be still! All your doubts shall I slice through. If

you play with the dice chosen by Dhritarashtra, your defeat is inevitable. Cunning Shakuni

will never play with that dice. Like a magician, by sleight of hand he will change it in a flash

for his own and play only with that. I did not lie idle in the Bahlik dungeons so long. After

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tireless research, I have created a dice infused with even greater mantric power. This new

creation I will place in your hands. Shakuni’s dice will become ineffectual the moment it

nears this. Maharaj, there is not the slightest doubt about your victory. My instrument is most

subtle. That is why throwing it too often in a single day is not permissible. Shakuni’s dice,

too, does not remain potent over a long period. That is why he will agree to your proposition

with alacrity. For your victory, three throws are enough. The dice is with me. Test it out.”

Matkuni took out an ivory dice from the bag at his waist. Yudhishthir noticed

that the dice was like Shakuni’s, equally well made with smooth faces, rounded at the

edges, a tiny hole at the centre of each dot.

Matkuni said, “ Maharaj, throw it thrice”.

Yudhishthir did so. Every time the throw showed six. Surprised, he sought to inspect

the dice, but Matkuni snatched it away and putting it back into his bag said, “This mantra-

infused dice is not to be handled unnecessarily as that affects its special powers.”

Yudhishthir said, “Your dice is dependable no doubt. But who will stand guarantee that you

will not betray us?”

“My head is forfeit. Take me into custody from now on with two guards in constant

attendance with drawn swords. Order them that if news of your defeat is received, they should

behead me. Maharaj, now do you believe me?”

“I do. I will act upon your advice. Right now I’ll dispatch a messenger to the Kuru

King. You will reside in a secret place guarded by armed sentries. Neither Kuru nor Pandav

will know of your whereabouts. If I win, you get Gandhar. If I lose, you die. Now, give me

that dice.”

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“Maharaj, if the dice remains with you, it will lose its special powers in the absence

of proper care. Let it remain with me. I will constantly reinforce its mantric force and will

hand it over to you before you depart. If you so wish, you can visit me daily to practice with

it.”

Yudhishthir said, “ Matkuni, your useless life is now at my mercy. But my brains, my

kingdom, my dharma- all are in your hands. There is no way out for me but to listen to you.”

With all royal panoply, the assembly hall sat down for the dice game. Dhritarashtra

could not remain at peace. For observing what would happen, he came down to the Kaurav

camp from Hastinapur for a couple of days. His faith in Shakuni’s abilities was unbounded.

He had not the slightest doubt regarding the victory of the Kuru camp.

In the assembly hall after Krishna, Balaram, the five Pandavs, Duryodhan, his

brothers and Dhritarashtra all had gathered together Bheeshma spoke; “I condemn this

gambling meet. But I am the Kuru monarch’s servant. Hence, despite the utmost reluctance, I

have to witness these shameful proceedings.” Dronacharya said, “I am of the same opinion.”

Bheeshma continued, “Maharaj Dhritarashtra, it is necessary to ensure that no illegal or unfair

deed in violation of the rules of dicing is committed in this assembly. I propose that Shri

Krishna be appointed chairman to regulate the proceedings.”

Duryodhan objected, “Shri Krishna is in the Pandav camp.”

Krishna said, “What Duryodhan says is not untrue. Moreover, with my elder brother

present, I cannot chair the meet.”

Then, with the consent of everyone, Dhritarashtra appointed Balaram to the task.

Balaram said, “Why delay? Let the game begin. O assembled nobility, in this gambling match

Shakuni on the Kaurav side and Yudhishthir on the Pandav side will play for their respective

camps using only a single dice each. Each will cast the dice only thrice. The person who

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obtains the largest number of points will win. The stake of this gamble is the entire Kuru-

Pandav kingdom. The loser will hand over the kingdom to the winner and, laying aside all

warlike intentions, he will have to retire the forest with his party forever. Subal’s son

Shakuni, as the elder you shall have the first chance to cast the dice.”

Happily, Shakuni made his throw and exclaimed, “I win!” Immediately after falling, his dice

was seen to roll a little and then remain still, showing six dots on top. Kama, Duryodhan and

others shouted with delight, “Victory is ours!”

Balaram said, “Yudhishthir, now it’s your turn to play.”

Yudhishthir’s dice turned over once and remained steady. It, too, displayed six dots.

Pandavs exclaimed, “ Dharmaraj’s victory!”

Balaram said, “You’re all making a lot of noise unnecessarily. No one has won. Both

parties are equal.”

Grimly Shakuni said, “Still two throws are left. I’ll win both.”

The second time Shakuni’s dice did not roll at all. It remained stationery after falling,

showing five dots. Yudhisthir’s dice showed six as previously. Shakuni noticed his dice was

quivering.

The Pandav camp roared exultantly. Rebuking them, Balaram said, “Beware! Another

shout and I’ll evict you from the assembly.”

Silence descended. With bated breath, every eye strained to see the final throw.

Shakuni, gone pale, threw the dice for the third time. The dice fell with a thud like a

lump of mud - a single dot!

Yudhishthir threw six again. Balaram in a voice grim as thunder announced, “The

victory is Yudhisthir’s.”

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At that moment, everyone noticed with amazement that the dice cast by

Yudhishthir was making tiny hops, inching towards Shakuni’s dice.

The assembly burst into uproar - “Maya! Magic! Illusion! Hypnotism!”

Duryodhan flinging his arms and legs about shouted, “Yudhisthir has cheated! We do not

accept his victory. Does any decent man’s dice ever move about?”

Balaram declared, “I will inspect the dice of both parties.”

Yudhisthir immediately picked up his dice and handed it over to Balaram. Shakuni

closed his fist around his and said defiantly, “I will not allow anyone to touch my dice.”

Balaram frowned and said, “As Chairman of this assembly, my directive has to be obeyed.”

Shakuni sneered in reply, “I am not bound to obey you.”

Administering a resounding slap on Shakuni’s cheek and snatching away his dice

Balaram said, “O assembled people, 1 shall break open these dice and find out what is inside

them.” Saying this, he split open both dice by throwing them on a stone platform.

From Shakuni’s dice a tiny beetle emerged, moving its pincers feebly as if on the

verge of death.

From Yudhisthir’s dice a small lizard came out and immediately attacked the beetle.

The assembly was agitated like a storm-tossed ocean. Anxious, Dhritarashtra

demanded to know what was happening. Balaram informed him, “Nothing much. There was a

beetle in Shakuni’s dice”

- “And it’s bitten someone?” enquired Dhritarashtra anxiously, “How

terrible!”

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“Not bitten anyone, Maharaj. It was inside Shakuni’s dice. This insect is extremely

intractable and cannot be overturned or turned on its side. If kept inside a dice, it turns it over

to remain upright. From Yudhisthir’s dice a lizard emerged. This creature is even more

obstinate. Brahma himself cannot upturn him. Smelling the lizard, the beetle was paralysed

with fear. That is why Shakuni failed to get his desired throw.”

Dhritarashtra asked, “Then who won?”

“Yudhisthir” Balaram replied, “Both parties used false dice. Hence, one cannot raise

the objection of cheating.”

Yudhisthir then took Balaram aside and narrated the Matkuni matter. Balaram told

him. “You need not feel embarrassed. The use of false dice is permitted by the rules of

gambling.”

With supreme indifference Yudhisthir primly stated, “Plough-wielder, you are a

mighty hero but ignorant of the scriptures. Lord Manu has prescribed that dyuta is that which

is played using objects, while that which is played with living creatures is called samahavya.

Kururaj had summoned me for dyuta of unliving things but, unfortunately, living creatures

have emerged from our dice. Hence this contest is vitiated.”

Kama clapped enthusiastically and said, “Dharmaraj, your name is truly well-

deserved.”

Balaram announced, “Dharmaraj’s knowledge of scriptures is vast, although he is

somewhat deficient in practical sense. I accept that this contest stands vitiated. In that case,

the earlier match is also void for Shakuni had used the beetle-containing dice there too.

Kururaj Dhritarashtra, because of your brother-in-law’s unrighteous conduct, in violation of

scriptural prescription, the Pandavs have unnecessarily had to suffer exile for thirteen years.

Now return them their paternal kingdom, otherwise hell definitely awaits you in the next life.”

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Excitedly Yudhisthir exclaimed, “I don’t wish to hear anything. I am disgusted with

everything to do with dicing. We will win back our kingdom only by war. Elder uncle,

pranam, I am leaving.”

The Pandavs then left for their camp with exultant shouts. Krishna and Balaram

accompanied them. After returning Yudhisthir said, “My first duty is to free Matkuni. This

unfortunate fool’s entire effort has gone waste. Come, let’s comfort him.”

A little before this news had reached the Pandav camp that something had

gone seriously wrong in the dice-game assembly hall. When Yudhishthir and the rest

reached the prison, the two sentries were arguing whether Matkuni’s head should be

lopped off or whether, for the present, chopping off his nose would do.

Having heard everything from Yudhisthir, Matkuni beat his head and wailed,

“No, I find everywhere it is fate that prevails! I overfed the lizard to make it strong.

That is why that ungrateful creature jumped about and ruined me. Balaram somehow

saved the situation, but Dharmaraj had to mess it all up by quoting scripture. What is

the use of freeing me when Duryodhan is bound to kill me?”

Balaram said, “Matkuni, you need not worry. Come with me to Dvaraka.

Conclusion

The key to gambling mythology is that gambling universally is a metaphor for

both the crucifixion and the resurrection. This is even true in literature, as mouthed by

a bankrupt roulette-player in Dostoyevsky's novel, The Gambler: "One turn of the

wheel, and everything changes .... What am I today? Zero. What can I be tomorrow?

Tomorrow I may rise from the dead and start to live again!"

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In other words, the gambler, unknown to him or her, is looking for divinity.

Sure, on the surface they are seeking economic fortune, but they are also seeking a

personal transformation, for that feeling of invincibility and liberation, even if for

only in the moment of exhilaration. The moment is indeed transitory, and the seeking

of further moments is what can sometimes throw the individual out of integrity,

causing addictive cycles. Whatever the forces are that the gambler believes is causing

him or her to win or to lose; they can never sustain or nurture the gambler. Of course,

these forces do not exist outside of the self, but lie within one's own actions. The

native American myths show that the effects can be catastrophic.

Gambling addictions should not be viewed as inherently evil or immoral, but as a

disease of the spirit that uses pleasure to avoid pain. It is not that they are weaker than

most, for we are all caught in the cycle of pleasure and pain, but that their pain is

more acute and their search for spirituality more urgent. In many Indian philosophies,

this dilemma is known as divine discontent, and as the native gambling myths show,

such malaise is a necessary step in the process of becoming spiritual. Society can try

to exile or reform addictive gamblers but, ultimately, they must embark on their own

vision quest that takes them deeper into their traditional beliefs, and beyond. This is

not to say that gamblers should not suffer the consequences of their actions for, after

all, these are part of the experiment to "know the cause of things and how effects can

be controlled."

A short glimpse has been given on dicing during the Vedic period

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Aksa and rta; the ritual of dicing

Among the popular vedic assemblies sabha was clearly used for dicing. The

dicer was called sabhasthanu ‘pillar of the assembly hall, doubtless because of his

constant presence there. In view of the fact that the popular assemblies of the early

vedic age were places of the distribution of wealth, a question may reasonably raised

whether dicing or casting the lot had anything to do with the primitive distribution of

wealth: whether the king’s taking part in the ritual dicing was an illusory survival of

the past reality of equal distribution of wealth through casting the lot.

After the mimic cow-raid and its accompanying ritual which formed part of

the rajasuya yaga, the king sat on a chair or throne made of khadira wood which was

placed in front of the agnidriya shed. The priests and the ratnins took seats around

him. The brahma priest (according to some srauta sutras) handed over a wooden

sword to the king, from whom it passed on to several persons such as the king’s

brother, suta, sthapati, village headmen, kinsmen etc. with this the kinsman and

another official marked out a place for the dice play. According to the Apastambha

srouta sutra the superintendent of dicing did so. The priest gently beat the king from

behind with sticks of pure trees, doubtless to expel any taint ill. On the ground so

marked a quadrangular hut or shed was erected. Five dice were handed over to the

king to thrown by him, different significations being attached to the results of the

castings, such as the king’s victory in all the quarters or the dominance of the kali age

representing the king) over the three other ages. The play was so arranged that the

best throw of the dice came from the eking. It appears that the dice play required

golden pieces beyond a hundred or thousand numbers.

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He then throws the five dice into his hand with “may these five regions of

thine prosper”

Description of the ritual use of the dice at he agnyadheya and the rajasuya

ceremonies are found also in other texts.

The position and prominence of the game of dice are interesting. It is possible

to see in it a connection with the foretelling of prosperity, but it must have been made

the more natural in that the king was interested, we may believe even at this period, in

the revenue to be derived from dicing, which was carried on in the sabha, house of

assembly, and which in late times was assuredly a valuable monopoly, and probably

so in earlier days.

But the whole affair may be viewed in a different perspective. It appears that

though in later times dicing meant nothing more than gambling. Its original purpose

was different.

The aksha sukta of the rigveda itself points at the tribal character of original

dicing. It also contains a reminiscence of the very old social characteristic that wealth

should not be withheld, because that would go against the principles of rta. (Laws of

universe) evidently these were the social values prior to the development of the

conflict between social production and individual appropriation. In the early stages of

social evolution when the tribal organisations disintegrated, the king, although he had

by this time established his individual right on a large portion of social wealth, paid

lip-loyalty to ancient tribal customs. This explains why in the rajasuya the king took

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the dice in his own hand. The dice were not for the purpose of simple gambling, but

he symbols of some ancient social values, which the king was expected to uphold.

But definitely,

The dice were the symbol of ancient social justice and that casting the lot was

the means of equal distribution of wealth in early Vedic times.

Distribution: casting the lot

Now we are in a position to answer why the king in the rajasuya had to mine and

act of dicing. Casting the lot was one of the primitive means of distribution of wealth,

and the king of a later age— although he was too powerful— at least formally, took

an oath that he would maintain the inviolable rta, the spirit of ancient equality and

justice, and his taking part in ritual dicing can be explained in this sense. Casting the

lot was necessary, because the commodities gathered as collective wealth of the tribe,

to be distributed among the clans, had no fixed value in modem economic sense;

casting was then unknown. Thus bhagya (lot) was a means of bhaga (share).

5.6 Snakes and Ladders

It is a classic children's board game played between 2 or more players on a

playing board with numbered grid squares. On certain squares on the grid are drawn a

number of "ladders" connecting two squares together, and a number of "snakes" also

connecting squares together. The size of the grid (most commonly 8x8, 10x10 or

12x12) varies from board to board, as does the exact arrangement of the snakes and

the ladders: both of these may affect the duration of game play.

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Snakes and ladders' simplicity and the see-sawing nature of the contest make it

popular with younger children, but the lack of any skill component in the game

generally makes it less appealing for older players.

History

The Western form of this game was invented in Chrisilorian England, possibly

by John Jaques of Jaques of London HI. and was apparently adapted from the ancient

Indian game "Dasapada", dating back to the 2nd century BC. Some game historians

dispute this claim however.

The term "Dasapada" is a Sanskrit term and actually refers to a 10x10 square

gaming board and in chess is related to a variant of the standard chess game.

However, it is difficult to ascertain with any certainty, what connection modem

"Snakes and Ladders" has to Dasapadan chess.

Playing

Each player starts with a token in the starting square (usually the "1" grid

square in the bottom left comer, or simply, the imaginary space beside the "1" grid

square) and takes turn to roll a single die to move the token by the number of squares

indicated by the die roll, following a fixed route marked on the gameboard which

usually follows a boustrophedon track from the bottom to the top of the playing area,

passing once through every square. If, on completion of this move, they land on the

lower-numbered end of the squares with a "ladder", they can move their token up to

the higher-numbered square (known as "climbing the ladder"). If they land on the

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higher-numbered square of a pair with a "snake", they must move their token down to

the lower-numbered square (known as "sliding down the snake").

In most versions, a player who rolls a 6 with their die may, after moving,

immediately take another turn; otherwise the play passes to the next player in turn.

The winner is the player whose token first reaches the last square of the track.

A variation exists where a player must roll the exact number to reach the final square

(hence winning). Depending on the particular variation, if the roll of the die is too

large the token remains where it is, or the token may proceed to the final square and

then go backwards until it has transversed the same number of squares as the die

shows.

Specific editions

The most widely known edition of Snakes and Ladders in the US is Chutes

and Ladders, produced by Milton Bradley (which was purchased by the game's

current distributor Hasbro). It is played on a 10x10 board, and players advance their

pieces according to a spinner rather than a die. The theme of the board design is

playground equipment—children climb ladders to go down chutes (slides). The

artwork on the board teaches a morality lesson, the squares on the bottom of the

ladders show a child doing a good deed and at the top of the ladder there is an image

of the child enjoying the reward. At the top of the chutes there are pictures of children

engaging in misbehavior and the images on the bottom show the child suffering the

consequences.

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The most common in the United Kingdom is Spear's Games' Edition of Snakes

and Ladders, played on a 10x10 board where a single die is used.

Mathematics of the game

Any version of Snakes and Ladders can be represented exactly as a Markov

chain, since from any square the odds of moving to any other square are fixed and

independent of any previous game history.

In the book Winning Wavs the authors show how to treat Snakes and Ladders

as a (loopy) impartial game in combinatorial game theory even though it is very far

from a natural fit to this category. To this end they make a few "minor" rule changes

such as allowing any player to move any counter any number of spaces, and declaring

the winner to be the one who gets the last counter home. It is hard to deny that this

version, which they call Adders-and-Ladders, involves more skill than does the

original game.

Only one game of this kind

There is really one game, the game in which each of us is a player acting out

his role. The game is “PARAMAPADA SOPANAM”, the universal play of cosmic

energy. The game is a divine play. It is present in the nature of the supreme self. It is

this playful nature, which creates the world of names and forms - the phenomenal

world. The game is life itself, energy expressed as the myriad forms and feelings

presented continuously to the self.

The essence of the player is his ability to become, to adopt a role. That which

is the essence of the player can enter into any role. But once the player enters into the

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game, once he assumes the identity of the persona he adopts, he looses sight of his

true nature, and gets caught by maya (illusion). He forgets the essence of what it is to

play the game. The karma die decides his moves.

The purpose of this small game is to help the player gain this ability to

withdraw from his identifications and see how he might become a better player. For

this game is a microcosm of the larger game. Contained within the 72 spaces of the

game-board is the essence of thousands of years of self-exploration, the heart of

Indian tradition.

As the player moves from space to space, square-to-square, he begins to see

patterns in his own existence, emerging with ever-deepening clarity as his

understanding of the game broadens. His sense of detachment grows as he sees each

stage as temporary, some thing to move beyond. And once the temporality of any

space becomes a reality for the player, he can detach from that space, let it go as he

seeks to discover ever more about the wonder that is Being.

As with all games, her too there is a goal, an object to be attained. Because the

essence fo the player is his ability to identify, his only chance of “ winning” the game

is to identify with that which is his Source. This is Cosmic Consciousness, the essence

of pure being, which transcends time and space and knows no limits, is infinite,

absolute, eternal, changeless, the All, without attributes, beyond both name and form.

The game ends when the player becomes himself, the essence of Play. This is nirvana

or moksha.

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The creators of the game saw it foremost as a tool for understanding the

relationship of the individual self to the Absolute.

S.7 Pachisi or sarelu

Played by 4 or 2 players -96 houses -16 pawns - 4 colors of 4 each - yellow,

red, green, black - 2 rectangular dice: 1, 3, 4, 6, and 1, 3, 4, 6

Pachisi is the classic and most interesting of all race games, in which two or

more players toss the dice to maneuver their pieces to get “home” first. The incredible

appreciation of this game is probably due to the fact that the game combines both luck

and skill.

The game first appears on a pillar in Mallikarjuna temple at Pattadakal and

Jyotirlinga gudi at Aihole. Both are Chalukyan temples and the former belongs to

c.695-720 AD. and the later to c.720-740 AD.

Pachisi is played on a cross-shaped board subdivided into houses. General

belief is that the name Pachisi is attributed to “25”, the highest possible throw of the

dice.

It is surprising that the King of Mysore called this game as “Pagade Kayi

Ata”. This game has been named after the “pawn” rather than the number 25 and is

always played with two or more stick dice and not played with cowries. The King of

Mysore had great passion for this game and had created new types with divergent

rules, lay out, and greatly complicated versions.

Each of its arms has three rows of eight squares. The lay out of the board has

96 houses, are playing squares. 8 squares on each arm are distinguished by crosses,

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which are safe houses for the player in play. There is a large square in the centre,

called “Mukti Sthala”which is the starting and finishing position of the pieces.

The game is played by four players, each having four pieces. The game is also

played in two groups or individually. The two opposite sides are partners, and they

win or lose together. In order to distinguish them better, the yellow and green should

play against the red and black. Each enters from the centre, and then goes down the

middle of his own arm, and then round the board, returning up the centre of his own

arm from where he started. On going up the central square, Mukti Sthala, the pieces

are turned over on their side, to show that they have made the circuit. They can only

get out by throwing the exact number. The play starts by rolling the dice; these throws

count as follows

With 1+1 = 2 and grace, and play again

With 3+3 = 6 and grace, and play again

With 4+4 = 8 and grace, and play again

With 6+6 = 12 and grace, and play again

With 1+3 = 4

With 1+4 = 5

With 1+6 = 7

With 3+4 = 7

With 3+6 = 9 to start the game

With 4+6 = 10

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Game play:

The game commences and the pawns are entered by the throw of nine only.

All enter the board only with nine. So, likewise, a piece taken up can enter only with

nine.

Once a pawn is entered, it may move around the board and the number of

spaces that are rolled on dice — that is, you can break up your roll between two

pawns, but the spaces moved must match the numbers on each die.

After all four players’ pawns are entered, if doubles are rolled (same number

on both dice) - a blockade can be made. An additional benefit of rolling doubles is

that you get to roll again.

When two pawns of the same color share the same space, this is called a

blockade. No other pawns from any player may pass the blockade.

A player can enter his home path, if he has successfully killed atleast one of

his opponents pawn.

When a player's pawn lands on a spot where a single opponent's pawn rests

(by exact count of a die roll) then the opponent's pawn is captured and sent back to the

start to be re-entered. For capturing a pawn, the player may have a bonus chance of

play. The same rule applies to the double pawn when doubles are rolled on the dice.

After having moved all the way around the board, pawns enter a path to the

center of the board specific to their color. In this home path, they may not be

captured. To enter the center of the board (mukti sthala) — the pawn must arrive by

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exact count of the dice. The goal is to get all four of your pawns home before any

other player.

Tips in short:

□ The player with the highest roll of dies goes first.

□ Ties are broken with another toss.

□ A piece can't leave the starting area until a player throws a nine.

□ When you roll a nine, your pawn is placed in the right corner of the safety square.

□ After the piece is on this space, use other rolls to move it around the board. If you

don't want to use one of the die values in a given roll, choose Pass.

□ A piece can be bumped back to its starting area if an enemy piece lands on it. You

can't bump a piece that occupies a safety space.

□ Two pieces of the same color, on the same space form a blockade. No pieces can

move past the blockade, not even pieces of the same color as the blocking pieces.

You may not use a doubles roll to advance a blockade to a new space. No more

than two pieces can occupy a space at the same time.

□ When you roll doubles, you are allowed an additional roll.

□ Use the middle row of squares, the home stretch, to go to the final home square

when you approach home. You must roll the exact number needed to enter the

home square.

□ You have the option of bypassing your home stretch and making an additional

circuit around the board. Use this tactic to bump the piece of another player who is

in the lead, or on the verge of winning.

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□ Pawns can be converted into "super pawns". If two from the same player are

placed in the same square, they can move as a single pawn and can only be eaten

by another super pawn.

The strategies like

1. Entering the game only by rolling nine

2. The rules about re-rolling doubles

3. Conversion to super pawn

4. Principle of blockading

o two pieces of the same color occupying the same space can move

together on a single throw and two aligned pieces (of a single

player or partners)in a single space form a blockade which an

opposing piece cannot pass

o capture of multiple pieces occupying the same space must be by an

equal number of opposing pieces (which necessitates either the

capturing pieces moving as a block or

a single piece being able to move on to a square occupied by multiple

aligned pieces,

to be followed by another piece later accomplishing the multiple

capture.

The rules and strategies demonstrated in the game make King’s pachisi more adept,

absorbing and complex.

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5.8 Tiger & goat game

This is a hunt game and game between the extravagant Tigers and the

deceitful Goats.

The general rule of this interesting strategy game is the number of tigers varies

from 1 to 4, and the number of goats from 11 to 12 to 23 or 24. The general aim is to

hem in the tigers so that they cannot move, but the arrangement of pieces, the method

of play and the rules of capture vary from game to game.

The game is one player has a tiger and the other many goats. The tiger is

usually placed on the apex of the triangle and the second player enters his goats, once

at a time in alternative moves with the moves of the tiger. All the pieces move in the

same way, one step along a marked line, but the goats cannot be moved until all are

entered. The tiger, which alone can capture, takes goats by the short leap. The tiger

wins if he takes so many goats that they cannot confine him, the leopards if they

succeed in reducing the tiger to immobility.

Bagh in Nepali means "tiger", and chal means "move",

hence you could translate it as the "Tiger Moving Game" or

"Move the Tigers". It is Nepal's national game. This game is

called Adu-Puli atam in tamil, Puli-Judam in telugu and Huli

gatta in Kannada. This is played as a gambling game even to

this day in telugu speaking region.

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The game is asymmetric in that one player controls three tigers and the other

player controls up to fifteen goats. The tigers 'hunt' the goats while the goats attempt

to block the tigers' movements. The game is particularly popular during the winter

season-is often seen scratched into the dry earth, since the game is played outside in

the sun to keep warm!

How to Play the Game?

Game piece consists of 3 tigers, or large stones, and 15 goats, or smaller

stones.

Two people play the game, one using the tiger pieces and the other, the goat

pieces. The goal is for the tigers to capture the goats by jumping over them, while the

goats seek to encircle and trap the tigers.

Place the three tigers in each of the board’s four comers.

Place one goat at any intersection of lines, anywhere on the board. (At the next

“goat” turn, another goat will be placed on the board, at any intersection of lines.)

Next, move one tiger one step, moving along any straight line, from one

intersection point to another.

Goats: Once a goat is placed on the board, it cannot be moved from its

position until all 15 goats have been placed on the board. Once this happens, any goat

may move one step by following the straight line from one intersection to another.

Goats may move in any direction, to wherever there is an open intersection. Goats

never jump over tigers or other goats.

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Goats defend themselves from tigers by being moved into such a position that

a tiger cannot jump over them. This means the goats must not leave an open space

behind them into which a tiger can jump.

Tigers: As the first goat, and each succeeding goat, is placed on the board,

one tiger can move one step, following a straight line from one intersection point to

another.

Whenever the opportunity exists, a tiger may jump over one goat by following

the line on the board to the intersection point on the other side of the goat. A tiger can

only jump over a goat and land in an intersection that is empty. Tigers cannot jump

over tigers.

When a tiger jumps over a goat, it captures the goat; the goat is then removed

from the board.

Winning: When a tiger has captured five goats, the tiger wins, since it is impossible

for the other ten goats to survive once they have lost five of their number!

But if the goats can encircle the tigers so that no tiger can make any move

to an empty point, then the goats win.

Note: A stalemate cannot be created by having one goat (that is safe from the tigers)

move back and forth between intersections. The goats must actively try to

encircle the tigers, rather than simply trying to keep from getting captured

themselves.

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