The Meadows of Gold مروج الذهب

It was during the time [of Bahboud, the second legendary king of ancient India in the 3rd millennium BC], that nard was invented, and it was introduced as an allegory of earthly gains: it shows that these are not obtained in this world through intelligence or cunning alone, and that sustenance is not acquired solely by artifice.

It is reported that Ardashir, son of Pabag, was the first to play nard and to devise its rules. He saw in it a representation of this world's inconstancy toward its inhabitants and the instability of its affairs.

He divided the board into twelve spaces, according to the number of months, and created thirty pieces, according to the number of days in a month. He made the dice a symbol of destiny and its reversals for the people of this world: man plays it, and through the favors of destiny assisting his intentions, he achieves what he desires. It happens that a clever and sagacious man does not obtain what another, less gifted, obtains if destiny favors the latter. In sum, sustenance and fortune in this world are only acquired through fate.

As for what has been said regarding nard and its characteristics, we have already presented, in the preceding parts of this work, the method of its arrangement and the identity of the one who established the game, according to the contradictory accounts on this subject that we reported when dealing with the traditions of India.

For connoisseurs, this game includes various variants and setups. However, the number of spaces (houses) remains, without addition or subtraction, in accordance with the knowledge already set forth and the established principles of this game.

The two dice are sovereign therein, and the player, although neither master of his choices nor able to escape the arbitration and verdict of the dice, must nevertheless be endowed with a precise memory, a mind prompt in calculation, a good capacity for organization, and excellent skill.

Many poems have been composed on the subject of this game, its description, the rules of the dice, and their verdict on those who engage in it; in these works, the authors have gone to great lengths and exhausted themselves exploring all its meanings. Among these is this saying by one of them:

'In Nard, there is no skill that can ensure a prize;

For the cleverest mind is naught if luck denies.

The dice, with haughty air, decide our end,

To show whom fortune favors, whom she won't befriend.

No scholar loses his stake, or falls from grace,

Unless by fate’s decree, he loses in this race.'

Abu al-Fath Mahmoud ibn al-Husayn al-Sindi ibn Shahak, the scribe known as Kushajim—a man of science, erudition, knowledge, and letters—recited to me verses he had written to a friend to rebuke him for his passion for the game of Nard. The verses are as follows:

'O you who boast and take pride in the Nard,

Seeking to shine before your brothers and your peers,

By my life, you have truly exerted all your efforts,

Yet the two dice have not been favorable to you.

The skillful man is nonetheless betrayed by his instinct,

And weeps for the bitterness of a cruel deprivation.

And when the judges [the dice] deliver their verdict,

The two adversaries cannot escape their decree.

By my life, I am not the first man

Who has made vows, only for his hopes to be betrayed.'

Abu al-Fath also recited to me these verses by Abu Nuwas:

'She is chained by fate, yet acts in ways unforeseen,

Following neither error nor wisdom in her design.

If I say: "Do not do this," she will not obey,

But if she says: "Do it," I then become her slave.'

We have already set forth, in the chapter devoted to the kings of India at the beginning of this work, the views of those who consider nard and the two dice as an allegory of earthly gains: they show that these are obtained neither through intelligence nor through cunning. We have also reported what is said of Ardashir, son of Pabag: that he was the first to play it and that he saw in it a representation of this world’s inconstancy toward its inhabitants; he divided the board into twelve spaces, according to the number of the months, and created thirty pieces, according to the number of the days of the month. As for the two dice, they symbolize destiny and the way in which it plays with the inhabitants of this world, as well as the other characteristics we have described. All of this has already been mentioned here and in our other previous works.

Some Muslim thinkers have argued that the inventor of the game of chess was a proponent of free will ('adli) and conscious of his actions, whereas the inventor of nard was a fatalist (mujbir). Thus, through the game itself, it became clear that he had no power of action over his moves, but that its practice was entirely subject to the imperatives of destiny, of which he had knowledge through this game."

Ce passage offre une conclusion philosophique très intéressante sur la distinction entre le jeu d'échecs (jeu de réflexion et de choix) et le nard (jeu de hasard et de destin).