Chaturanga

Alternate Name

चतुरङ्ग (Sanskrit), Caturaṅga, or Catur for short. The name refers to the four arms of the Indian Army: the infantry, elephants, cavalry, and chariots.

No. of Players

Two

Equipment

Chaturanga has been played on 8x8 square grids and on the Ashtapada variation of the 8x8 square grid, where there are some additionally distinguished crosshatch marked cells. Most of the two-dimensional representations of the pieces shown here are equivalent to those of two-dimensional representations of Orthochess, with one exception: the Orthochess bishop is here a Gaja (elephant).

Pieces

2-D Piece

Number per Player

1

1

2

2

2

8

Indian Name

Raja or Rajah

Mantri or Senapati

Ratha

Gaja, Gajah, or Hathi

Ashva, Ashwa, or Asva

Padàti, Bhata, Pedati, or Sainik

Translation

King

Minister or Counsellor; General (resp.)

Chariot

Elephant

Horse

Foot Soldier, Infantryman, or Warrior

Orthochess

Equivalent or Similar

King

Queen

Rook

Bishop

Knight

Pawn

History

This is currently the oldest known form of Chess and is often regarded as the original form. It is existed in Northwest India (the Punjab) at least as early as the 7th century CE and its origins are often shrouded in myth and legend. One commonly stated theory is that Chaturanga evolved from an earlier race game, called Ashtapada. The game, which may also have been a precursor to Pachisi (and by extension Parsheesi, Ludo and Sorry!) is discussed here under Thayaam as it is also similar to that game. The premise of the theory is that the board used to play Ashtapada came to be used for a war simulation or a war game.

The earliest known description comes from the 12th century manuscript, Manasollasa (Joy of the Mind).

Objective

Play

The historical rules of Chaturanga are not known, but it is largely believed to be the same as the later Arabic and Persian game, Shatranj or Chatrang, in all but three aspects.......

Strategy

Variations

Chaturaji is an ancient 4-player variation or similar chess-like game probably originating from India.

Modern Indian Chess, like all other forms of Chess has undergone its own evolution through time and has an array of diverse forms throughout the country in modern times. There are, however, a few shadows of the ancient game that have been retained in different modern games.

Sources

  1. Gollon, John. Chess Variations: Ancient, Regional, and Modern. Charles E. Tuttle Co.: Publishers, 1968.

  2. Chaturanga at Chess variants page. http://www.chessvariants.com/historic.dir/chaturanga.html

  3. Pritchard, D.B. The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. Completed, edited, and published by John Beasley, 2007. ISBN 978-0-9555168-0-1