Chess History And Reminiscences
when the dice had to be dispensed with, as contrary to the law
and the religion of the Hindus and when such laws were vigorously
enforced, it then became a test of pure skill only, and was
probably more generally engaged in by two competitors than four;
but, it appears reasonable, when we recollect the oft translated
story of Nala, and the evident fascination of the dice to the
Hindus, to suppose that the dice formed far too an important
element in the Chaturanga to be so easily surrendered; and it is
not at all improbable that the prohibition and suppression of
the dice destroyed much of its popularity and that the game
became much less practiced and ceased to be regarded with a
degree of estimation sufficiently high to make it national in
character, or deemed worthy of the kind of record likely to be
handed down to prosperity. Notwithstanding that the moves of
Kings, Rooks and Knights in the Chaturanga were the same as they
are now, the absence of a Queen, (which even in the two-handed
chess was long only represented by a piece with a single square
move) and the limited power of the Bishops and Pawns, must have
made the Chaturanga a dull affair compared with present
chess as improved towards the close of the Fifteenth century;
and it is not so very remarkable that it should have occurred
to Tamerlane to desire some extension of its principles, even
with our present charming and, as some consider, perfect game,
we find that during the 17th and 18th centuries, up to Philidor's
time not a good recorded game or page of connected chess history
is to be found and we may cease to wonder so much at the absence
of record for four or three thousand years or more, for a game
so inferior to ours. Were the Chaturanga now to be revived
without the dice it would probably not prove very popular.
Authorities say "But, unquestionably, the favourite game among
the ancient Hindus, was that of chess; a knowledge of which in
those primitive times formed one of the requisite accomplishments
of a hero, just as skill in chess was considered among us in the
palmy days of Chivalry."
What this game was is not explained; beyond the description of
the oblong die of four sides, used to determine which piece had
to move in the Chaturanga; we have no information how a game of
interest could be made with dice alone, as is not easy to understand.
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We have no means of ascertaining, says Forbes the exact era at
which the Chaturanga passed into the Shatranj, or in other words
at what period as the Muhammadans view it, the Hindus invented
the latter form of the game. The earlier writers of Arabia and
Persia do not agree on the point, some of them placing it as early
as the time of Alexander the Great and others as late as that of
Naushurawan. Even the poet Firdausi, the very best authority
among them though he devotes a very long and a very romantic
episode to the occasion of the invention of the Shatranj, is quite
silent as to the exact period; all that he lets us know on that
point is that it took place in the reign of a certain prince who
ruled over northern India and whose name was Gau, the son of
Jamhur.
Sir William Jones was Judge of a Supreme Court of Judicature
in Bengal, from 27 April, 1783 to 27 April, 1794, when he died
at Calcutta. It is recorded that he came much in contact with
intelligent Brahmans and was much esteemed. He states on the
authority of his friend the Brahman "Radha Kant" "that this
game is mentioned in the oldest (Hindu) law books; and that it
was invented by the wife of Ravan, King of Lanka, the capital
of Ceylon, in order to amuse him with an image of war while
his metropolis was closely besieged by Rama in the second age
of the world."
NOTE. Sir William Jones says: If evidence be required to prove
that chess was invented by the Hindus, we may be satisfied with
the testimony of the Persians, who, though as much inclined as
other nations to appropriate the ingenious inventions of a foreign
people, unanimously agree that the game was imported from the west
of India, together with the charming fables of Vishnusarma, in the
Sixth century of our era. It seems to have been immemorially known
in Hindustan by the name of Chaturanga, that is the four "angas"
or members of an army, which are said in the Amarakosha to be
Hasty-aswa-ratha-padatum, or Elephants, Horses, Chariots and Foot
Soldiers, and in this sense the word is frequently used by epic
poets in their descriptions of real armies. By a natural corruption
of the pure Sanskrit word, it was changed by the old Persians into
Chatrang; but the Arabs, who soon after took possession of their
country, had neither the initial or final letter of that word in
their alphabet, and consequently altered it further into Shatranj,
which found its way presently into the modern Persian, and at
length into the dialects of India, where the true derivation of
the name is known only to the learned. Thus has a very significant
word in the sacred language of the Brahmans been transferred by
successive changes into axedres, scacchi, echecs, chess and by a
whimsical concurrence of circumstances given birth to the English
word check, and even a name to the Exchequer of Great Britain!
"The beautiful simplicity and extreme perfection of the game, as
it is commonly played in Europe and Asia, convince me that it was
invented by one effect of some great genius; not completed by
gradual improvements, but formed to use the phrase of the
Italian critics, by the first intention, yet of this simple game,
so exquisitely contrived and so certainly invented in India. I
cannot find any account in the classical writings of the Brahmans."
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