It is very likely that you know how to play chess. It is a difficult game, but it is quite common to know the basic movements, and even some moves. It is a game that requires prudence, strategy and reasoning, and that is why many experts recommend it to exercise our mind.
What is also very likely is that you do not know the origin of this game. Don’t worry, it’s normal. Its origins are quite confusing and, although there is a consensus about its direct ancestor, the Indian chaturanga, it is still unknown when and why it was born.
In this article we are going to try to unravel the mysteries of chaturanga, the older brother of our current chess
The Persian poem Shahnamebetter known in our language as The book of kingswas written by the poet Ferdouní around the year 1,000 AD. It tells the story of Persia from the creation of the world to the Muslim invasion, and also includes a curious legend: the story of how and why chaturanga or chess was born. ancient.
The legend says that the king had died and his sons wanted to face each other in a fierce fight to reach the throne Alarmed by the inevitable bloodshed, some elders suggested they settle their differences on a board. The princes agreed. Thus, on a huge table of teak wood and ivory, a series of pieces were arranged, which the princes had to move carefully to achieve victory. That way, they could fight for the coveted throne without spilling a single drop of blood. That’s the legend, but what about the truth? What historical evidence do we have of this older brother of modern chess?
According to some authors, already in the Mahabharata (3rd century BC) there are references to chaturanga, but these are quite confusing. On the other hand, there are four other very ancient documents in which mentions of Indian chaturanga are found. The first of them is the love poem known as Vasavadattawritten in Sanskrit around the 7th century In the poem we find a confusing reference to a game where the pieces are shaped like green and yellow frogs, which, a priori, does not have much to do with chaturanga.
Another historical source that mentions it, this time much more clearly, is the Jarsha-Charita, also in Sanskrit and also from the 7th century, which tells the life of Emperor Harsha. The text refers to the incredible peace that the population experienced under this king; The absolute absence of war caused tedium to the men of war, who entertained themselves by playing chaturanga.
We can see, then, that from the beginning it is considered a game of a warrior nature. Around the year 600 we already find chaturanga in Persia, since the Karnamak, a Persian text, mentions a king who is distracted by this game. However, the Persian source that most clearly refers to chaturanga is the Chatrany-namakin which the pieces are specified, but their movements are not specified.
“The four parts” of an army
Chaturanga is native to India. Both Persian and Muslim sources agree on this, and they adapted the game, although with few changes. For the Persians it was chatrang; For the Arabs, the ash-shatranj, a name that ultimately gave rise to medieval acedrex and our modern chess. The game traveled from India to Europe along the Silk Road. First he arrives in Persia; according to the already mentioned Chatrany-namak, through an Indian embassy. Later, with the conquest of Persia by the Arabs, it spread throughout the Muslim world and finally reached medieval Europe.
The name in Sanskrit, chaturangameans, literally, “the four parts” or “the four members” (from chatur, “four”, and anga, “member”). It is known that in 7th century India the word also referred to the army, which consisted of 4 members or divisions: the infantry (that is, the foot soldiers), the cavalry, the elephants and the chariots. It is precisely this division that reflects the primitive game of chaturanga; a faithful reflection of a battlefield in which two armies confront each other.
According to HJR Murray, author of an interesting study on the origins of chess, Indian chaturanga was a war game where the battlefield was the board (known as ashtapada). Just as in modern chess, To achieve victory, each of the two players cannot use anything other than their own logic and reasoning This is why many historians believe that the origins of chaturanga were due more to a military education than a hobby.
And how was chaturanga played?
In Persian sources the pieces are cited, but not the movements. Those who did record the rules of the game were the Arabs. Probably, this version (the ash-shatranj) offered discrepancies with the Indian original, but historians believe that these would be rather few.
Following again HJR Murray, and also chess champion Harry Golombek (who supports many of his theories), the chaturanga board was not marked, as our current chess boards are. Yes, there would be some colored marks that would have no use and that would probably be inherited from games prior to chaturanga and that were played on the same board.
It seems that The game was always for two players, who managed the pieces of the two armies facing each other on the board There was, however, a version for four players, called chaturaji, which was initially believed to precede the version for two. It is currently known that chaturaji is a variant of chaturanga.
The pieces, as well as the moves, are astonishingly similar to those of today’s chess. First, there would be the raja (the king), which would be decisive for the game, since killing this piece meant, as now, the end of the game. In addition to the king, there would be the minister or advisor, called mantri in Sanskrit, which would be equivalent to the current queen. The two elephants (gaja) would be the predecessors of the bishop, while the two chariots (rat-ha) would be our towers. Finally, we would find two horses (ashwa) and eight infantry soldiers (padati), the equivalent of our pawns.
The lack of a female figure in both the Indian chaturanga and the Persian chatrang is striking. We also find no trace of the queen in the Arabic ash-shatranj. So when did this piece appear?
The emergence and rise of the lady
The queen or lady does not appear until the Indian chaturanga reaches medieval Europe There it becomes, as we have already commented in another section, the acedrex, and it is then, and only then, when the counselor or minister is replaced by the queen. The use of this piece became widespread throughout the 12th century, coinciding with powerful female figures such as Eleanor of Aquitaine and Blanche of Castile.
The phenomenon is understood if we consider that, during the European Middle Ages, The wives of kings and nobles enjoyed a much higher political status than is generally assumed In the absence of their husbands, they were the ones who took the reins of the fiefdom, so, in a certain way, they performed the practical functions that the minister or advisor performed in the Persian and Arab world. The changes in Indian chaturanga and its adaptations to European reality demonstrate that women, even with their limitations, were held in much greater consideration than we believe.
in the poem Scachs of love (The chess of love), written in the 15th century, describes a game of acedrex where the lady already moves with the current movements. The poem compares the movements of the lady and the king with the courtship of Mars and Venus, and makes it very clear that, when the lady is annihilated by the enemy, the game is lost. It’s still curious how The rise of the piece of the lady or queen, especially in the Iberian Peninsula, coincides with Isabel the Catholic one of the most powerful queens of the 15th century.
