The time of the rains played its game with frogs for pieces yellow and green in colour, as if mottled by lac, leapt up on the black field squares. History Īn early reference to an ancient Indian board game is sometimes attributed to Subandhu in his Vasavadatta, dated between the 5th and 7th centuries AD: and draws not only on Indian games but on the Chinese game of Liubo and Chinese and Babylonian divination techniques. Gerhard Josten proposes that the fusion took place in the Kushan Empire ca. 255–55 B.C., in a fusion of the many short-moving men of the Greek game petteia, or poleis, with men derived from the various moves of an Indian race game, perhaps Seega or Chaupur, on the ashtapada, the board of another race game. Myron Samsin argues that chaturanga originated in the kingdom of Bactria, ca. in the northern or northwestern border areas of Indian culture, where it was in contact with Greek culture brought by the Macedonian-Greek army, and where some rulers issued coins with fused Greek-Indian imagery. Several more recent scholars have proposed a gradual evolution in the centuries B.C. The counter-argument is that they remained prominent in literature. The first substantial argument that chaturanga is much older than this is the fact that the chariot is the most powerful piece on the board, although chariots appear to have been obsolete in warfare for at least five or six centuries. It has its origins in the Gupta Empire, with the earliest clear reference dating from the sixth century of the common era, and from north India. The origin of chaturanga has been a puzzle for centuries. The Sanskrit word "chaturanga" means 'four-limbed', referring to ancient army divisions of infantry, cavalry, elephantry, and chariotry. In particular, there is uncertainty as to the moves of the Gaja (elephant). Chess historians suppose that the game had similar rules to those of its successor, shatranj.
The exact rules of chaturanga are unknown. Īccording to Stewart Culin, chaturanga was first described in the Hindu text Bhavishya Purana. Archeological remains from 2000-3000 B.C have been found from the city of Lothal (of the Indus Valley Civilisation) of pieces on a board that resemble chess. In the 7th century, it was adopted as chatrang ( shatranj) in Sassanid Persia, which in turn was the form of chess brought to late-medieval Europe. Ĭhaturanga is first known from the Gupta Empire in India around the 6th century CE. While there is much uncertainty, the prevailing view among chess historians is that it is the common ancestor of the board games chess (European), xiangqi (Chinese), janggi (Korean), shogi (Japanese), sittuyin (Burmese), makruk (Thai), and modern Indian chess. Chaturanga ( Sanskrit: चतुरङ्ग caturaṅga) is an ancient Indian strategy game.