Chaturanga
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Chaturanga (Sanskrit: चतुर ; caturaṅga), or catur for short, is an
ancient Indian strategy game which is commonly theorized to be a b c d e f g h
the common ancestor of the board games: chess, shogi, sittuyin, 8 8
makruk, xiangqi and janggi. 7 7
Chaturanga developed in the Gupta Empire, India around the 6th 6 6
century AD. In the 7th century, it was adopted as shatranj in 5 5
Sassanid Persia, which in turn was the form of chess brought to
late-medieval Europe. 4 4
3 3
The exact rules of chaturanga are unknown. Chess historians
2 2
suppose that the game had similar rules to those of its successor
shatranj. In particular, there is uncertainty as to the moves of the 1 1
Gaja (elephant). a b c d e f g h
Chaturanga starting position.[1] The
Rajas do not face each other; the
Contents white Raja starts on e1 and the black
Raja on d8.
1 History
2 Rules
2.1 Pieces and their moves
2.2 Additional rules
3 See also
4 References
5 Further reading
6 External links
History
Sanskrit caturaṅga is a bahuvrihi compound, meaning "having four
limbs or parts" and in epic poetry often meaning "army".[2] The name
comes from a battle formation mentioned in the Indian epic
Mahabharata, referring to four divisions of an army, namely elephants,
chariots, cavalry and infantry. An ancient battle formation, akshauhini,
is like the setup of chaturanga.
Chaturanga was played on
Krishna and Radha playing chaturanga an 8×8 uncheckered board, a b c d e f g h
on an 8×8 ashtāpada called ashtāpada,[3] which 8 8
is also the name of a game. 7 7
The board sometimes had
special markings, the meaning of which are unknown today. These 6 6
marks were not related to chaturanga, but were drawn on the board 5 5
only by tradition. Chess historian H. J. R. Murray conjectured that
4 4
the ashtāpada was also used for some old race-type dice game,
perhaps similar to chowka bhara, in which the marks had meaning. 3 3
2 2
An early reference to an ancient Indian board game is sometimes 1 1
attributed to Subandhu in his Vasavadatta (c. AD 450): a b c d e f g h
Ashtāpada, an uncheckered 8×8
The time of the rains played its game with frogs for board, sometimes with special
pieces [nayadyutair] yellow and green in colour, as if markings, on which chaturanga was
mottled by lac, leapt up on the black field squares. played.
The colours are not those of the two camps, but mean that the frogs
have two colours, yellow and green.
Banabhatta's Harsha Charitha (c. AD 625) contains the earliest reference to the name chaturanga:
Under this monarch, only the bees quarrelled to collect the dew; the only feet cut off were those of
measurements, and only from Ashtâpada one could learn how to draw up a chaturanga, there was
no cutting-off of the four limbs of condemned criminals...
While there is little doubt that ashtâpada is the gameboard of 8×8 squares, the double meaning of chaturanga,
as the four-folded army, may be controversial. There is a probability that the ancestor of chess was mentioned
there.
The game was first introduced to the West in Thomas Hyde's De ludis orientalibus libri duo, published in 1694.
Subsequently, translations of Sanskrit accounts of the game were published by Sir William Jones.[4]
In Arabic, most of the terminology of chess is derived directly from chaturanga: Modern chess itself is called
chitranj in Arabic, and the bishop is called the elephant.
Rules
The initial position is as shown. White moves first. The objective in chaturanga, the same as modern chess, is to
checkmate the opponent's Raja (king).
Pieces and their moves
Raja (king) Chaturanga pieces
(also spelled
Rajah): Raja (king)
moves one Mantri or Senapati (counselor or general; ancestor of ferz; early form of queen)
step in any
direction Ratha (chariot; rook)
(vertical, Gaja (elephant; later called fil; early form of bishop)
horizontal or
diagonal), the Ashva (horse; knight)
same as the
king in chess. Padàti or Bhata (foot-soldier or infantry; pawn)
There is no castling in chaturanga.
Mantri (minister or counsellor); also known as Senapati (general): moves one step diagonally in any
direction, like the fers in shatranj.
Ratha (chariot) (also spelled Śakata): moves the same as a rook in chess- whereby the rook moves
horizontally or vertically, through any number of unoccupied squares.
Gaja (elephant) (also spelled Gajah or Hathi): three different moves are described in ancient literature:
1. Two squares in any diagonal direction, jumping over the first square, as the alfil in shatranj. This is
a fairy chess piece which is a (2,2)-leaper.
The same move is used for the boat in chaturaji, a four-player version of chaturangam.[5]
The elephant in xiangqi has the same move, but without jumping.
2. One step forward or one step in any diagonal direction.
The same move is used for the khon (nobleman) in makruk (Thai chess) and the sin
(elephant) in sittuyin (Burmese chess), as well as for the silver general in shogi.
The move was described c. 1030 by Biruni in his book India.
3. Two squares in any orthogonal (vertical or horizontal) direction, jumping over the first square.
A piece with such a move is called a dabbābah[6] in some chess variants. The move was
described by the Arabic chess master al-Adli[7] c. 840 in his (partly lost) chess work. (The
Arabic word dabbābah in former times meant a covered siege engine for attacking walled
fortifications; today it means "army tank".)
The German historian Johannes Kohtz (1843–1918) suggests, rather, that this was the
earliest move of the Ratha.
Ashva (horse) (also spelled Ashwa or Asva): moves the same as a knight in chess.
Padàti or Bhata (foot-soldier or infantry) (also spelled Pedati); also known as Sainik (warrior): moves
and captures the same as a pawn in chess, but without a double-step option on the first move.
Additional rules
Al-Adli mentions two further differences:
Stalemate was a win for a stalemated player. This rule appeared again in some medieval chess variations
in England c. 1600. According to some sources, there was no stalemate, though this is improbable.
The player that is first to bare the opponent's king (i.e. capture all enemy pieces except the king) wins. In
shatranj this is also a win, but only if the opponent cannot bare the player's king on his next turn.
See also
Chaturaji—a four-player chess variant
Chess in early literature
Liubo
Origins of chess
References
1. "The History Of Chess" (http://www.thechesszone.com/history_of_chess). ChessZone. Retrieved
29 March 2011.
2. Meri 2005: 148
3. "Ashtapada" (http://history.chess.free.fr/ashtapada.htm). Jean-Louis Cazaux. 2005-07-25. Retrieved
2013-07-16.
4. Henry Edward Bird. Chess History and Reminiscences (https://books.google.com/books?id=oJPVDNaSL
8YC&pg=PA47). Forgotten Books. p. 47. ISBN 978-1-60620-897-7. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
5. W. Borsodi, etc. (1898). American Chess Magazine (https://books.google.com/books?id=I_4LAAAAYA
AJ&pg=RA1-PA262&dq=%22Horse+ship%22#PRA1-PA262,M1). Original from Harvard University.
p. 262.
6. Dabbābah (http://www.chessvariants.org/piececlopedia.dir/dabbabah.html)
7. Al-Adli (https://web.archive.org/web/20091028083454/http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lab/737
8/aladli.htm)
Further reading
Davidson, Henry (1981) [1949]. A Short Hooper, David; Whyld, Kenneth (1992). The
History of Chess. McKay. ISBN 0-679-14550-8. Oxford Companion to Chess (2nd ed.). Oxford
Falkener, Edward (1961) [1892]. Games University Press. ISBN 0-19-280049-3.
Ancient and Oriental and How to Play Them. Murray, H. J. R. (1913). A History of Chess.
Dover Publications Inc. ISBN 0-486-20739-0. ISBN 0-936317-01-9.
Parlett, David (1999). The Oxford History of Pritchard, D. B. (2007). "§29.1 Indian chess on
Board Games. ISBN 0-19-212998-8. the 8×8 board". In Beasley, John. The Classified
Pritchard, D. B. (1994). The Encyclopedia of Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. John Beasley.
Chess Variants. Games & Puzzles Publications. pp. 262–64. ISBN 978-0-9555168-0-1.
ISBN 0-9524142-0-1.
External links
Chaturanga by Hans Bodlaender, The Chess Variant Pages
Pathguy.com a simple Chaturanga program by Ed Friedlander
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This page was last edited on 29 May 2017, at 05:55.
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