Photo: Izydor Młoczkowski / Colored: pg_dimare»Once upon a time in the East, a wise Brahmin named Sissa invented a wonderful game called Chaturanga. The Sanskrit word refers to the four arms or divisions which formed the typical Indian army in Vedic times: elephants, cavalry, chariots, and infantry. It was played on an ancient board named "vastu purusha mandala", which was the mythical board of 8 x 8 squares used by antic architects to design the plan of the cities. The board representing the universe was redefined by Indian players as a board game under the secular name of "ashtapada".
At this time of its invention there was concern about the prevalance of gambling games using dice. A great number of his people were playing for high stakes and becoming addicted to these games of pure luck.
One day the Indian King (Rajah) Balhait summoned Sissa and requested of the wise man to create a game which would require pure mental skill and oppose the teaching of games in which chance (luck) decides the outcome by the throw of dice. Moreover, the king requested that this new game should also have the ability to enhance the mental qualities of prudence, foresight, valor, judgment, endurance, circumspection, and analytical and reasoning ability.
Sissa produced Chaturanga. One of the popular myths of chess tells of him being asked by his king what reward he wanted for such a fine game. Sissa replied that he wanted one grain of wheat for the first square of the board, two for the second, four for the third, eight for the fourth, and so on to the 64th square. The king was astonished and annoyed by the excessive modesty of his counsellor, but it turned out that the number of grains he owed him was 18,445,744,073,709,551,515. That is more than the current production of the entire world for hundreds of years!
Chaturanga was a wargame, the first to borrow explicitly and extensively from the vocabulary of military conflict. Today the battle metaphors and the warfare symbolism are not so apparent, but they continue to be imprinted in what is a highly aggressive intellectual activity.«
©Jean-Michel Péchiné
See more: http://www.chessbase.com/columns/column.asp?pid=166
At this time of its invention there was concern about the prevalance of gambling games using dice. A great number of his people were playing for high stakes and becoming addicted to these games of pure luck.
One day the Indian King (Rajah) Balhait summoned Sissa and requested of the wise man to create a game which would require pure mental skill and oppose the teaching of games in which chance (luck) decides the outcome by the throw of dice. Moreover, the king requested that this new game should also have the ability to enhance the mental qualities of prudence, foresight, valor, judgment, endurance, circumspection, and analytical and reasoning ability.
Sissa produced Chaturanga. One of the popular myths of chess tells of him being asked by his king what reward he wanted for such a fine game. Sissa replied that he wanted one grain of wheat for the first square of the board, two for the second, four for the third, eight for the fourth, and so on to the 64th square. The king was astonished and annoyed by the excessive modesty of his counsellor, but it turned out that the number of grains he owed him was 18,445,744,073,709,551,515. That is more than the current production of the entire world for hundreds of years!
Chaturanga was a wargame, the first to borrow explicitly and extensively from the vocabulary of military conflict. Today the battle metaphors and the warfare symbolism are not so apparent, but they continue to be imprinted in what is a highly aggressive intellectual activity.«
©Jean-Michel Péchiné
See more: http://www.chessbase.com/columns/column.asp?pid=166
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