Chess History And Reminiscences
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Eminent contributors to the Archaeological Society and to
Asiatic Researches have adopted the conclusions of the foregoing
authors, (Dr. Hyde, Sir W. Jones and Professor Forbes). Francis
Douce, Esq., after referring to Dr. Hyde's labours, says, "Yet I
shall avail myself of this opportunity of mentioning the latest and
perhaps most satisfactory opinion upon this subject; for which we
are indebted to the labours of that accomplished scholar Sir
William Jones." He has informed us that chess was invented
by the Hindoos from the testimony of the Persians who,
unanimously, agree that it was imported from the West of India in
the Sixth century and immemorially known in Hindustan by the name
of Chaturanga or the four members of an army, viz. Elephants,
Horses, Chariots and Foot Soldiers.
Sir F. Madden, 1828, remarks: "It is sufficient, at present, to
assume on the authorities produced by the learned Dr. Hyde and
Sir William Jones that for the invention and earliest form of
this game we must look to India, from whence through the
medium of the Persians and the Arabs, as proved demonstratively
by the names of the chessmen it was afterwards transmitted to
the nations of Europe."
It seems that we may be satisfied that chess is of Asiatic origin,
and India its birth place without subscribing entirely to the
view that even the ancient Hindu Chaturanga so minutely
described and which comes so long before any other game
mentioned in China or Egypt is even the first of chess; but we
may say this much, that, notwithstanding, the doubts expressed by
Crawford in his history and Rajah Brooke in his journal, and the
negative opposition of Dr. Van der Linde, we cannot bring
ourselves to be skeptical enough to discredit the trustworthiness of
the accounts furnished to us in the works of Dr. Hyde, Sir. William
Jones and Professor Duncan Forbes of the existence of the game
called the Chaturanga at the time stated.
NOTE. The Amara Kosha was one of the most valued works of Amara
Sinha one of the nine gems which adorned the throne of Vikramaditya.
The period, when he lived, was that from which the Hindoos date
their present chronology; that is he lived about the middle of
the first century B.C. The Amara Kosha was one of his numerous
works preserved, if not the only one that escaped. They perished,
it is said, like all other Buddhistical writings at the time of
the persecutions raised by the Brahmans against those who
professed the religion of Buddha.
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Sanskrit scholars, including Colebrooke and Captain Cox, writing
rather incidentally than as chess players, inform us that the pieces
used in our game, viz. the Rook, Knight, and Bishop are
referred to in old Indian treatises, under their respective names of
Elephant, Horse, and Ship, which is a most convincing item of
evidence to chess players. This is one of the three main things
which historians fail to notice; the Roman Edict of 115 B.C. and
790 to 793 A.D., the least unlikely period for English acquirement
of the game, on Alcuin's three years visit from Charlemagne's
court, being the two others most meriting attention and noticed in
their respective places.
NOTE. The Roman Edict of 115 B.C. exempting chess and Draughts from
prohibition, when other games were being interdicted, seems to
have escaped the notice of all writers, and does not harmonize
with the Germans Weber and Van der Linde's theories of 954 A.D.
for the earliest knowledge of chess in its precise form.
NOTE. Alcuin, 735-804, is a name forgotten by all writers in
considering the Charlemagne, Koran, and Princess Irene period
and English probabilities.
NOTE. The Sanskrit translations for the glorious Al Mamun, 813
to 833, those mentioned in the Sikust (980), and for the
enlightened Akbar, 1556 to 1615, seem to have been unknown to
European scholars, who throughout the early and middle ages do
not strike us as having been remarkable for zeal and application.
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The Chinese claims made apparently rather for than by them,
are recorded in the annals of the Asiatic Society as being in
respect of a game called "War Kie," played with 360 pieces, said
to have been invented by Emperor Yao so far back as B.C. 2300,
the next account is of a game called Hsiang Kie, attributed to
Wa Wung B.C. 1122, with 16 pieces on each side, like draughts
with characters written on each so recently as 1866, it was claimed
to be played all over the country. The great dictionary of Arts
and Sciences dedicated to our King in 1727, merely says:
"The Chinese claim to date back their acquaintance with chess
to a very remote period." The Chinese call chess the game of the
Elephant, and say that they had it from the Indians. The
Haipiene or great Chinese Directory under the word Sianghki,
says that this happened in the reign of Vouti, about the year of
Christ 537. Notwithstanding this statement there is an account
of Real Chess given in 1793, by Eyles Irwin, Esq., a gentleman
who had passed many years of his life in India, and contained in
a communication to the President of the Irish Society. He says
379 years after the time of Confucius (which is equal to 172 B.C.),
King Cochu, King of Kiangnan, sent an expedition into the Shensi
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