Chess History and ReminiscencesBird, H. E. (Henry Edward)
History
Chess History and Reminiscences
Bird, H. E. (Henry Edward)
Chess
Duncan Forbes, L.L.D., Professor of Oriental languages in
King's College, London, is the next great authority upon the
Chaturanga; in a work of 400 pages published in 1860 dedicated
to Sir Frederic Madden and Howard Staunton, Esq., he further
elaborated the investigations of Dr. Hyde and Sir William Jones
and claimed by a better acquaintance with chess and choice of
manuscripts and improved knowledge of the Sanskrit language to
have proved that the game of chess was invented in India and no
where else, in very remote times or, as he finally puts it at page
43: "But to conclude I think from all the evidence I have laid
before the reader, I may safely say, that the game of chess has
existed in India from the time of Pandu and his five sons down
to the reign of our gracious Sovereign Queen Victoria (who now
rules over these same Eastern realms), that is for a period of
five thousand years and that this very ancient game, in the
sacred language of the Brahmans, has, during that long space
of time retained its original and expressive name of Chaturanga."
The Chaturanga is ascribed to a period of about 3,000 years
before our era.
According to the Sanskrit Text of the Bavishya Purana from
which the account is taken, Prince Yudhisthira the eldest and
most renowned of the five sons of King Pandu, consulted Vyasa,
the wise man and nestor of the age as to the mysteries of a game
then said to be popular in the country, saying:
"Explain to me, O thou super-eminent in virtue, the nature of
the game that is played on the eight times eight square board.
Tell me, O my master, how the Chaturaji (Checkmate) may
be accomplished."
Vyasa thus replied:
"O, my Prince, having delineated a square board, with eight
houses on each of the four sides, then draw up the red warriors
on the east, on the south array the army clad in green, on the
west let the yellow troops be stationed, and let the black
combatants occupy the north.
"Let each player place his Elephant on the left of his King,
next to that the Horse, and last of all the Ship, and in each of
the four Armies, let the Infantry be drawn up in front. The Ship
shall occupy the left hand corner next to it the Horse, then the
Elephant, and lastly the King, the Foot Soldiers, as are stated
being drawn up in front."
The sage commences general directions for play with the
following advice:
"Let each player preserve his own forces with excessive care,
and remember that the King is the most important of all."
The sage adds:
"O Prince, from inattention to the humbler forces the king
himself may fall into disaster."
"If, on throwing the die, the number should turn up five, the
King or one of the Pawns must move; if four, the Elephant; if
three, the Horse; and if the throw be two, then, O Prince, the
Ship must move."
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ON THE MOVES OF THE PIECES
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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