The History of Chess. H. J. R. Murray
now come to modern days, when Europeans were again coming into direct contact with India. We possess no satisfactory accounts of Indian chess in the descriptions of the early voyages to the East. A few sets of native chess were brought home, and Hyde obtained some from Sheldon and describes them in his Mandragorias.24 Forbes (162–3 and 249–51) quotes from two English volumes of memoirs of the close of the 18th cent. some references to games between Europeans and natives, but the information is too unscientific to be of much value.
CHAPTER III
CHESS IN INDIA. II
The Four-handed Dice-game.—The account in Raghunandana.—The method of play.—The modern four-handed game.
In the present chapter I propose to deal with the history and practice of the four-handed chess of which I have already given an early account from al-Bērūnī’s India. Considerable reference has been made already to this game in the concluding pages of Chapter I, in connexion with the Cox-Forbes theory of the ancestry of chess, in which it plays an important part. Present opinion, on the other hand, regards the four-handed game as only one of the many modifications of the two-handed chess which have appeared from time to time in Asia. From this point of view, one of the most remarkable features of this variety of chess is its unusual vitality. Al-Bērūnī wrote his description of the game c.1030. The Bengali account which Forbes used is contained in a work written somewhere about 1500. The game—reformed by the abandonment of the dice—is still played in India to-day. Modifications of chess have not as a rule exhibited such powers of life. Special circumstances may give them a certain vogue for a time, but with the removal of these influences the game has generally fallen into complete disuse.
The only clear ancient reference to the present variety that I know in Indian literature occurs in Kalhaṇa’s Rājataraṅgiṇī, a metrical chronicle of the Kings of Kashmīr, which M. A. Stein, the English translator, dates 1148–9 A.D. The passage1 runs:—
The king, though he had taken two kings (Loṭhana and Vigraharāja), was helpless and perplexed about the attack on the remaining one, just as a player of chess (who has taken two Kings and is perplexed about taking the third).
He had no hidden plan (of game) to give up for its sake (his figures). Yet he did not pay any regard to his antagonists who were taking his horsemen, peons and the rest.
This seems to be a quite satisfactory reference to the highest form of victory possible in this game—chaturājī.
We are fortunate in possessing two descriptions of this four-handed game which Sir William Jones and later writers have designated chaturājī.2 The earlier of these—al-Bērūnī’s—has been already cited; the later—Raghunandana’s—was given in translation by both Sir W. Jones and Forbes. Van der Linde gave in the Geschichte (I, Beil., 3–13) the Bengali text and a German version, which Weber had prepared at his suggestion from the three known texts of the slokas in the Tithitattva.3 Weber’s German version has served as the basis of the following translation:—
Yudhisthira having heard of the game of chaturanga applied to Vyasa for instructions concerning it.
Yudhisthira said—
1. Explain, O supereminent in virtue, the game on the eight times eight board. Tell me, O my master, how the Chaturājī may be played.
Vyasa said—
2. On a board of eight squares place the red forces in front, the green to the right, the yellow at the back, and the black to the left.
3. To the left of the King (rāja), O Prince, place the Elephant (gaja), then the Horse (aṣwa), then the Boat (naukā), and then four Pawns (vaṭi) in front.
4. Opposite place the Boat in the corner, O son of Kunti; the Horse in the second square, the Elephant in the third.
5. And the King in the fourth. In front of each place a Pawn (vaṭikā). On throwing 5, play Pawn or King; if 4, the Elephant (kuñjara).
6. If 3, the Horse; if 2, then, O Prince, the Boat must move. The King moves one square in every direction.
Four-handed chess. After Raghunandana.
7. The Pawn moves the same, only forwards, and takes what happens to be in either angle in advance; the Elephant moves at pleasure in the four cardinal directions.
8. The Horse (turaṃga) moves aslant, crossing three squares at a time; the Boat moves aslant two squares at a time, O Yudhisthira.
9. Sinhāsana, Chaturājī, Nṛipākṛishṭa, Shaṭpada, Kākakāshṭha, Vṛihannaukā, Naukākṛishṭaprachāraka.
10. The Pawn and Boat take whether they can be taken or not, O Yudhisthira; the King, Elephant, and Horse (hayaṣ) take, but avoid being taken themselves.
11. The player should guard his forces with all possible care; the King, O Prince, is the most important of all.
12. The most important may be lost if the weaker are not protected, O son of Kunti. As the King’s chief piece is the Elephant, all others must be sacrificed to save it.
13. To enable the King to obtain Sinhāsana or Chaturājī all other pieces—even the Elephant—should be sacrificed.
I. SINHĀSANA (A throne).
14. If a King enters the square of another King, O Yudhisthira, he is said to have gained a Sinhāsana.
15. If he takes the King when he gains Sinhāsana, he gains a double stake; otherwise it is a single one.
16. If the King, O Prince, mounts his ally’s throne, he gains a Sinhāsana, and takes over the command of both armies.
17. If a King, seeking a Sinhāsana, moves six squares away, he is exposed to danger although he still seems well protected.
II. CHATURĀJĪ (The four Kings).
18. If you still keep your own King, and take the other Kings, you obtain Chaturājī.
19. If your own King slays the others in obtaining Chaturājī, you gain a double stake; otherwise it is a single one.
20. If the King slays the other Kings on their own squares, his stakes are fourfold.
21. If, at the same time, Sinhāsana and Chaturājī are both possible, the latter deserves the preference.
III. NṚIPĀKṚISHṬA (Exchange of Kings).
22. If you have two Kings in your hand, and your own King is still there, the King who is taken by the enemy is taken back again.
23. If you have not the two Kings in your hand although the enemy has the other, the King must kill a King at his own risk.
24. If a King marches out through the nṛipākṛishṭa, he must be killed for death or life. There is no rescue afterwards.
IV. SHAṬPADA (The move of six squares).
25. If a Pawn reaches the edge excepting in the corner and the King’s square, he assumes the power of the square, and this procedure is called the Shaṭpada.
26. If Chaturājī and Shaṭpada are both obtainable, O Prince, Chaṭpada naturally has the preference.
27. If the Pawn’s Shaṭpada is marked with King or Elephant (hasti), it cannot assume it.
28. If the Pawn stands through ten (?i.e. for many moves) on the seventh square, the weak forces opposite can be slain at pleasure.
29. O son of Kunti, if the player has three Pawns left, according to Gotama, he cannot take Shaṭpada.