Pachisi is sometimes spelled in English as “Parcheesi”. However, if there were a stalemate, the player who was stalemated would become the winner. In Chaturanga, the aim was to wipe out the opposing player, leaving his king alone. These pieces also moved differently, with the general being quite a weak piece and the elephant having a range of movements with no parallel to the modern game. Early Indians played it on square boards, eight by eight in size.Ĭhaturanga had pieces that mirrored modern chess pieces, with a general instead of a queen, a chariot instead of a rook, and an elephant instead of the bishop. “Chaturanga” means “four arms”, and it likely refers to the four types of pieces representing parts of ancient Indian armies infantry, cavalry, elephantry, and chariotry.ĭespite its quite ancient origin, written references to Chaturanga didn’t begin until around the 6th century CE, and from them, we know the little we do about the game itself. Archeological remains have found pieces dating back to approximately 3000 BC. ChaturangaĬhaturanga is one of the oldest board games in human history, the precursor to Xiangqi and, according to most historians, the ultimate ancestor of modern Chess. Not all games are necessarily about competition–cowry shells are more likely to be used than dice, and those few strategic games are filled with subtle complexities.īy examining the board games of ancient India, we discover so much about the people of our past and how they became the people of our present. The board games of India reflect the culture and environment of ancient times. Snakes and Ladders is an ancient morality tale, while even Indians play the global phenomenon known to most of us as “nine-men morris”. Pachisi is still played in the form it was over two thousand years ago, while Chaturanga is considered the ultimate grandfather of Chess. It is no surprise, then, to learn that many of the board games of Ancient India have survived even til today. At the same time, its role as a trading center between Europe and Asia allowed it to take the best of both worlds. India has always played a central role in the evolution of global culture, from the early development of Hinduism to its current role as one of the most populated countries in the world.Īlong its millennia of history are the creation and evolution of some of the most popular board games of today.
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