Game of Heaven and Hell

Abstract

Indian board game Mokshapada invented by Thiruvenkatacharya Shastri in begining XIX, from collection of Royal Asiatic Society (UK)

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Board History References

This Indian game first described in “The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Miscellany” Parbury, Allen & Co., 1831 v.5. page 85. We find report from Captain H. Dundas Robertson, of the Bombay army, that “a coloured drawing of the Shastree’s game of Heaven and Hell. A translation of the inventor’s account of the game accompanied it, and was read. It appears to be founded on a careful examination of the metaphysical systems of the Hindus. The game is divided into a number of squares, of which a part represent the systems of the different philosophers. The plan of the game exhibits the most highly approved methods that have been laid down by Hindu theologians for gaining beatitude. It contains two heavens and two hells. The “Great Heaven,” or Muc’sha (Moksha), is in fact the Divine essence itself, at which the souls of the good arrive by two different roads: one of which is short (that of Capila); and the other long (that of Palanjali).Both are described in detail, and there are also instructions for playing the game. Two dice and as many men as there are players (twenty-five) are used; the dice are of ivory, about two inches in length, and square. The men are of five different forms, and as many different colours. The author’s name is Trivingally Acharya Shastree”.

We know only one man advanced in board games and with similar name, man who published book, the first treatise of chess titled “Essays on Chess” (Mumbai 1814) translated from Sanskrit to English, his name is – Trevangadacharya Shastree.Prof. Nagesh Havanur of Mumbai wrote: “The author of the treatise was Thiruvenkatacharya Shatri,a scholar from Tirupati, South India. He was asked to write this book by his royal patrons, Peshwas of Pune. The book describes briefly several variants of chess: Hindustani (Indian), Vilayati (Western or the present international system), Dakshinatya (South Indian) and even the Chinese system. It was translated into English and published with the title Essays on Chess by M.D.Cruz. In “Chess Notes” No. 4715 Prof. Havanur adds: “The name of the author should be Thiruvenkatacharya Shastri. ‘Trevangadacharya’ is an improbable name, as it has no etymology to speak of. In India the custom is to name children after gods. Thiruvenkatesha, or Shri Venkatesha, is the incarnation of Lord Vishnu. It appears that the author was a Tamil Brahmin. Hence, the Tamil prefix Thiru, which forms part of his name. It is customary to address Brahmins, or members of the priestly class, with respect, so they are called acharyas in the South. A Shastri (not Shastree) is a scholar who has mastered holy books, i.e. shastras”.Other pronunciation of his name Tiruvenkata Acharya Shastri in book “Chess for beginners and the beginnings of chess: And the Beginnings of Chess. By Robert Blair Swinton. Published Little, Brown, 1891 his name on page 50. Andrew Topsfield describe this game in his article “Board (124 squares) Royal Asiatic Society, London (fig. 8). and cite F.E. Pargiter, “An Indian game: Heaven or Hell”, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1916, pp. 559-42. “This elaborate Vaisnava version of gyan chaupar is known only from the present example, which was given to the Asiatic Society in 1831 by Major Henry Dundas Robertson (Bombay Army, 1804—45), together with five ivory men and two dice (now lost). It was described in the Society’s register as “A coloured drawing on plan of the Shastree’s game of Heaven and Hell”. The game is painted and inscribed on paper backed with cloth and is possibly the work of a Maharashtra artist at Nagpur, c. 1800. Many of the squares are illustrated with appropriate scenes or figures, e. g. a man drinking (“drinker of spirits”, 21), a hunter shooting an arrow at a blackbuck (“injury”, 30) and an elephant (“of elephant birth”, 42). The painting of these figures and of the borders and dividing bands of floral scrollwork on a gold background is of good quality. This is probably the finest of the surviving Indian gyan chaupar boards.The Sanskrit square names and patterns of snake and ladder connections show few similarities to the 72-square board. The progression of ideas from one square or group of squares to another is often obscure. The main playing area (numbered 1—124) is divided by the floral bands into three horizontal sections. The upper and lower sections contain 40 and 41 squares, while the middle section has 47 squares in its left compartment. The squares in its right compartment are numbered separately from the rest of the board, and, as Pargiter has suggested, they seem to form a side-game of their own, a cul-de-sac of heavenly states which is entered by ladders from squares 31 (those who perform sacrifices with interested motives) and 48 (those of royal birth), i. e. spiritually self-seeking individuals. Once inside this side-game, the player has no way of leaving it to rejoin the mainstream of the game with its ultimate goal of liberation (124, “deliverance into the Supreme Brahma”).As in the 72-square board, this ultimate square may be reached by a ladder from the bhakti square (68, “excellence of faith in Visnu”). Visnu is depicted in square 124 and the three unnumbered squares at the left of the top row; various rishis and supplicants are seated facing Visnu in the righthand squares of this row.In this game the player encounters 22 snakes and 11 ladders (one other snake, “waning of merit”, resides in the heavenly side-game). The snakes are only found in the lower and middle sections of the board and most of them are of modest length. Ahahkara (67), such a dangerous hazard of the 72-square game, here brings a demotion of only 5 squares. In the celestial spheres of the upper section all such earthly vices are left behind. But to reach this final stage of the game the player must evade the two long diagonal snakes in the middle section, “one who begins at the end” (86) and “desire for this world’s enjoyments” (88), which lead back to “royal birth” (48) and thence, it appears, by a ladder to eternal confinement within the side-game. The most helpful ladders take the player from “homage to the good” (12) to Brahmin status (49), from “disinterested action” (3 2) to “waning of sin” (50) and, as already mentioned, from Visnubhakti (68) to moksa (124). (An anomaly in the board design appears at square 60, which has both a ladder and a snake leading out of it). After publication in “The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Miscellany” Parbury, Allen & Co., 1831 v.5. this small report was translated and published on main European languages. In German “Lesefrüchte, belehrenden und unterhaltenden Inhalts”… 1832 – Trivingally Acharia Schastri. — Der Kapitaln Dundas Robertson, von der engl. Armee in Bombay, bat der asiatischen Gesellschaft in London eine colorirte Zeichnung des in Indien sehr beliebten Schastri- spiele «zugesendet, das sich, wie es scheint, auf ein tieses Studium der indischen Metaphysik gründet. Das Schach» brett ist in «ine gewisse Anznhl Viereck abgetheilt, von de» nen jedes das theologische System eines indischen Philosophen darstellen soll. Der Gang des Spieles richtet sich nach den verschiedenen Methoden, welche die indischen Theologen als die geeignetsten zur Erlangung der himmlischen Glückseligkeit vorgeschlagen haben. Es enthält zwei Him« mel und eben so viel«Hsllen. Der große Himmel, — Mucscha ist eigentlich das gsttliche Wesen selbst, zu dem die Seelen der Frommen gelangen, aufeinem sehl kurzen — Kapila und auf einem sehr langen Wege Pabanjali.— Dieses Spiel, das man mit Würseln und Brettsteinen spielt» ist abermals ein Beispiel von der seit undenklichen Zeiten unter den Hindu üblichen’ Gewohnheit, mit ihren Spielen philosophische Ideen zu verbinden. Das hier erwähnt« trägt seinen Namen von seinem Elfinder Trivingally Acharia Schastri. In French – “Journal général de la littérature de France ou répertoire méthodique” published by Treuttel and Würtz., v. 34 (1831) La Société asiatique de Londres a reçu an mois d’avril dernier, un jeu iort curieux, en vogue aujourd’hui dan» l’Inde. Ce jeu, appelé Ciel et l’Enfer, est Tonde sur les systèmes (le métaphysique des Indoos , et ressemble beaucoup au noble jeu de l’Oie. C’est un échiquier, divisé en un certain nombre de rases , dont chacune est supposée représenter le système théologique de quelque philosophe indien. La marche du jeu est basée sur les méthodes 1rs plus efficaces pour parvenir à la l>é.ititude céleste. Il contient dnui ciels et deux enfers. Le grand ciel ou mue ‘eha est l’essence divine, à laquelle arrivent les âmes des bons par différcntcsroutß’, dont une est très-courte, celle de Capita, et l’autre au contraire très-longue, celle de Palanjali. On fait usage de deux dés, et d’autant de pions ou’il y a de joueurs, (¡espions sont de différentes forme«, et ont chacun uno couleur difiéreme. Le nom de l’inventeur du jeu est Trivingally Acharya Shastree.About inventorIn book “The History of Chess: From the Time of the Early Invention of the Game in India Till the Period of Its Establishment in Western and Central Europe” W. H. Allen & co., 1860 authior Duncan Forbes write anecdote about Acharya Shastri. “The Asiatics, generally speaking, are very servile towards their superiors particularly when the latter happen to have crowned heads on their shoulders, or hold high offices in the State. It is related of the Brahman Travangad-Acharya-Shastri, of Bombay, who published a small work on the Hindustani game, 1814, that he was never beaten at Chess but once, and that was by a European lady. It is very probable that the Brahman’s play resembled that of other courtiers, but with better luck, for the loss of the game secured him a lucrative contract for the supply of the army with provisions. A distinguished pupil of mine, who for several years held a civil and political situation in the BombayPresidency, told me many years ago when he was home on furlough, that he found it very difficult to induce the natives, some of whom were excellent players, to exert their whole strength against him. They deemed it the height of presumption to win a game of the ” Bara Sahib Bahadur,” (the eminent and honourable gentleman), till at last he agreed to give them a gold moTitir (about a guinea and a half) for every game they won of him, he himself exacting nothing for such games as they lost. This sure enough had the desired effect, and he very soon found that his Chess play on such terms was becoming rather an expensive amusement.History of game In General meeting of Royal Asiatic Society. Saturday, June 7m, 1834. the Right Hon. Charles W. Williams Wynn, M.P., President, in the chair. A great number of donations were laid on the table, among which were the following, viz.: —From the Rev. Dr. Wiseman, C.M.R.A.S., a complete set of the Works of Fr. S. Bartolomeo; his own ” Horte Syriacte,” &c. From Major H. D. Robertson, a copy of the Shastri’s game of “Heaven and Hell.” From M. Sakakini, a System of Anatomy, in Arabic, for the use of the Medical School at Abu Zabel, in Egypt.” So perhaps known current version in RAS are the copy from original board. ( The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British and Foreign India, China, and Australia. Published by Parbury, Allen, and Co., 1834 Item notes: n.s. 14 (May-Aug 1834))Drawings, Paintings, Busts Catalogue by R. Head. The Collection of Royal Asiatic Society.Board pictures p. 141 163 on page 72 – “… translation into English from the Persian, published in 1847. CENTRAL INDIA: NAGPUR 051-ooi Design for the game of Snakes and Ladders. Finely drawn figures with ornamental borders of flowers on gold. By a Maharashtra artist, c. 1800 possibly at Nagpur (C.P.). …”

Shastree’s game ofHeaven andHell.

Shastree’s game of Heaven and Hell .

References The Metropolitan. Published by James Cochran, 1831 Item notes: v.1 (1831) – Reduced report from Robertson Royal Asiatic Society.The London Literary Gazette and Journal of Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences, Etc.Published by H. Colburn, 1831F. E. Pargiter. “An Indian Game : Heaven or Hell (with folding table)”. 1916 The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. July 1916. pp. 539-42Official Report of the Calcutta International Exhibition, 1883-84: Compiled Under the Orders of the Executive Committee published by Bengal Secretariat Press, 1885 – in works of art list we find “Chess (Gyan Chausar), from Rampur State exhebited by His Highness the Nawab of Rampur, loan. p. 285 Ancient Wisdom Deals A new Hand by Siddharth Wakantkar (Interview by Milind Ghatwai) Publication: The Indian Express -Flair Date: September 30, 2001 – in this article first mention Wakankar that the earliest version of Snakes and Ladders is invented 13th century saint-poet of Maharashtra Gyandev, who called his creation Mokshapat.

Fig. 1: Essays – chess book of Tarvangad Acharya Shastree.