CHATURANGA: History and How to Play (The Origins of Chess)

[@yagami-light]

I agree with chariot as we in india call it "Rath" and we usually move it like Rook.

[@sgcars]

I am a Sanskrit scholar from East Asia. It is wrong to say early Sanskrit work was only religious. Astounding works exist in literature, philosophy and sciences. Some of them may look religious but encoded in them we have the decimal number system and Hindu numerals (0,1,2,3...), so called phythogorean theorem, almost all "fables of Aoesep", a lot on astronomy, and of course you have systems like Yoga, Ayurveda, Pranayama which have now found a resurgence in use after scientific validation. In fact, Samkhya philosophy which predates, Boudha, Yoga, etc talks about the universe made of atoms and even the force of gravity - perhaps the first ever in the world. Please look up Kapila's works.

[@ag-bf3ty]

One thing that I think could have been, and I'll explain my logic... The original Bishop leapt over pieces, and could move 2 squares diagonal. The Knight (still) leaps over piece and moves 2 squares also technically... it moves 1 square diagonal, followed by 1 square orthogonal (to create that L shape overall.) I think this is probably the "correct" way to imagine the Knight's movement, as a 2 square movement rather than a 3 square L-shaped movement, and the 2 square limited Bishop kind of vindicates this I think. So I wonder if the rook at one point leapt also, and also moved 2 squares... but orthogonal. So all pieces could have moved 2 squares originally, Bishop diagonal, Rook orthogonal, and Knight a combination of the two. I just wonder if that was the original idea of the people who invented the game? But obviously as the rules developed, the rook changed, and then later the Bishop too (removing its leap and its limit to 2 squares, and it became more like the rook with unlimited movement.) Just a thought I always had after hearing that the Bishop used to be more like the Knight with the leaping and two square traversal. But I've not heard about any changes to the rook. Do we know if the rook piece ever changed in the early days of Chess? Or was it always unlimited? Oh, also the fact the pawn moves orthogonally and takes diagonally is also very interesting because it makes it like a blend of the Bishop and the Rook's behaviour too much like the Knight.

[@ancientgaming4698]

This is an interesting idea. Chess is I think one of the hardest games to study, because (even at its time) the fact that all pieces have their own movement patters was revolutionary. The rook, as far as I know, never changed its movement, and always moved indefinitely in a straight line. I would even go as far as to say that that is the oldest movement patter on the board, but again it is hard to know.

[@abyrupus]

This Chaturanga feels closer to the structure of Pacheesi (original Ludo) - also from India, in the sense of having four teams of colors and being a dice-game.

[@Doogsonai]

There is one relation to the markings on the ashtapada and the rules of shatranj and medieval chess. The marked squares are those which can never be attacked by any Elephant piece, given the initial setup of Elephants next to the King and Advisor. I was somewhat disappointed that a video titled "Chaturanga" was instead focused on the four player "Chaturaji". It would be interesting to have a follow-on video comparing the two-player Chaturanga with all the national chess variants (Shatranj, Chess, Makruk, shogi, xiang-qi) to trace its development as it spread around the world.

[@yagami-light]

In two player game, there's additional piece "Mantri" translates to Advisor in English which is placed at Queen's square however it's not as powerful as queen and only moves one square diagonal

[@ancientgaming4698]

The Mantri is indeed a really interesting piece, there is a theory within the 2-player vs 4-player origins debate that hypothesizes this piece was included as a result of having 2 kings on each side when adapting the 4-players game to the 2-players game, although the general consensus now goes towards the 2-players variant. I would like to make a video one day about the origins of the queen and how it evolved from the Mantri and its early variations (ferz, the shi in xiangqui, the myojin...), really cool stuff

[@yagami-light]

@@ancientgaming4698 Indeed, as a kid, I used to play this game a lot but my grandpa taught it. Later on, I realized as I grew up that how this game was played is still undefined to some extent and we can only learn from hints and references to scriptures. I would love to see if you research and make video about Queen's Evolution

[@ancientgaming4698]

@@yagami-light most modern reconstructions of ancient games are in some way based on speculation unfortunately, but that makes them no less interesting. A video about the Queen will come, sooner or later :)

[@Quach7]

​@@yagami-light Oral history: In the movie The Chess Players (Shatranj Ke Khilari 1977), England colonized India. England had powerful Queens. So the Queen became more powerful, and to speed up the game to suit the taste of the English.

[@Quach7]

The Vizier is an original chess piece and a real life position. It's like the Vice President. Jafar is a vizier in the movie Aladdin. In movies, there are always the Vizer. Spock is the Vizier of Captain Kirk, etc.

[@rosarodriguezdelcerro8617]

Great!! Thank you for your research and outreach. I don't mind waiting if the result is so good

[@ag-bf3ty]

I remember watching this video a while ago. Kicking myself that I didn't subscribe at the time since it's a great summary of the history.

[@ancientgaming4698]

Thanks :)! I think this was to date the video that took the most ammount of research, perhaps along with Go and Horse Games / Medieval Tournaments

[@akhandbharat7126]

Chaturanga Indian traditional games

[@man-yp1gb]

I bought this game being a fan a chess and to pay homage to it's roots. It was a lot of fun.

[@Royalbob123]

Chess is originated in India . Thanks you for the video : History of Chess ( Chaturanga) : First ever Sanskrit references to Chaturanga in India date back to the Gupta Empire in the 6th century CE, with the earliest clear mention found in Banabhatta's *Harsha Charitha* from around AD 625. Chaturanga , an ancient Indian strategy board game, is believed to have roots dating back 5000 years to the Indus Valley Civilization. The game's name, meaning "having four limbs or parts," is derived from the Indian epic *Mahabharata*, where it refers to four divisions of an army: elephantry, chariotry, cavalry, and infantry. Later “chaturanga” personal took it and named as Sjataranj and then to medieval Europe , now evolved into modern Chess.

[@yoshimajestic1666]

I've been binging your channel. I find ancient board games so fascinating

[@ancientgaming4698]

This makes my day Yoshi!! Appreciated 😄 It’s been a while since I don’t upload but intend on releasing a new one soon enough!

[@yoshimajestic1666]

@@ancientgaming4698 can't wait!

[@kyrrikyrri]

Really like this content, great work!

[@maxkim7937]

the 4 sided dice makes me wonder if that is one of the variants of what we use in Yut nori in Korea. we throw 4 sticks with 2 sides

[@kemetnubiakamp]

The dice of Kemet (Ancient Egypt) were two throw sticks with different colors/engravings on the opposite side. It was used for their game Senet that is a two player board game with the goal of removing a player's pieces before the opponent can remove their pieces. The game dates to the Old Kingdom.

[@amithrodrigo87]

horses and chariots jumping over people and elephants going down a straight line until properly stopped, soldiers, getting a promotion only if there was no one else to put to the position and the higher ranks are in trouble. Sounds like ancient warfare war to me..

[@ancientgaming4698]

The true original Age of Empires lol

[@Geo_Andre]

Great Video! Keep up the good work!!

[@ancientgaming4698]

Thank you Andre! :)

[@paulf919]

Great video, keep them coming👌

[@Charleszag3000]

The boat moves like a rook And the afil/elephant jumps to squares diagonally.

[@Quach7]

9:02 The most logical explanation is that the same board is used for other games. You can see it today. You go to Toys R Us and you can buy a 10 in 1 game set. Chess, checkers, backgammon, Parcheesi, Chinese Checkers, Snakes and Ladders, etc . . . The so called Iranian "scholar" is just repeating home-spun folklore. History (as we know today) is much more mathematically rigorous, modelled after genetic history.

[@sofiana580]

great video!! Finally someone that goes deep into details. A little tipp from a KZbin junky if u allow : You have a very expressive face wich is totally ok, but for that u are way to close to the camera. go back a little bit more so we can see ur hands, that would be great greetings!

[@ancientgaming4698]

Thank you :) I do like details A LOT indeed, so youtube is great to go over these things with no boundaries. Yes you are right about the camera thing, now I use another format, this is like 30 minutes of the Gandalf scene of "is it secret??? is it safe?!" xD

[@shadyantra]

Lord Shiva is Dhyut Papeshwar means owner of the game. This game was known as sKhandyantra or shadyantra. It was played on dashpaad to vrihadpaad boards. Game was invented by Sage Agasthya. Kartikey played this game. But Ravan was much better and expert in this game

[@yagami-light]

16:40 pathi is also known as padati, translates to Soldiers on bare foot as pad means foot and padti would translate as one who walks.

[@ancientgaming4698]

Really interesting fact! I did not know this thank you

[@Quach7]

It's in modern English. biped = 2 leg walker pedal impede

[@Quach7]

pedestrian.

[@abhinavparivesh8580]

Very well researched!

[@ancientgaming4698]

Thanks a ton Abhinav :) I look forward to cover more Indian games in the future!

[@rafefanam9620]

exactly what I was looking for.

[@ancientgaming4698]

Thank you! :)

[@sifusourav]

Sir,u researched very well, but Sorry I want to make u know a fact that the Al beruni wrote about the rules of Chaturaji which means Four Kings and played with the help of dices . This is not the rule to play Chaturang. Only two forces were allowed to be played in the ancient rules of chaturang and obviously in modern rules too. The Sankrit word " Chaturang" doesn't mean there are four armies with four different kings but it means " Chaturangini Sena" i.e. Four types or divisions of Forces i.e. Infantry, Cavalry, Elephantry and Chariotry. When it reached to Persia as a gift by an Indian King, it was pronounced as Chatrang by Persians and then it was being travelled to Arab by the Arabian invaders in Persia(Iran) , then it was termed as Shatranj in Arabic. Chaturang is a Sankrit term which is also used as a Hindi term too.

[@timothygreer188]

were almost close to the 200 (k) mark ... 10 months later over 1million

[@thomaseubank1503]

This whole time we didn't need to invent a cross shaped board to play 4-player chess. It was already out there!

[@ancientgaming4698]

And from the beggining!!

[@Quach7]

"There is nothing new under the sun." - Ecclesiastes.

[@Lomidze-D.90]

thank you for video. and thank you for that, what are you doing for us 😉 waiting new videos 😉👍😊

[@ancientgaming4698]

Thank you Davit! Already working on the next one, I hope it will come sooner than later. Don't know yet if it will be tabula, but tabula will come, it's another of the big games after all :D

[@ancientgaming4698]

@Tony Maurice it's more prone to draws than the tafl games, but still has a wide range of strategy

[@rizzwan-42069]

what would be first chess variant that has two sides

[@jacklazzaro9820]

18:30, if you kind viewers missed it Edit: 22:27 are you sure you don’t have the chariot and the elephant’s movements mixed up?

[@ancientgaming4698]

Hello Jack! Thanks for the comment, many people are confused with both the elephant and the chariot's movement: this is due to the fact that there are multiple variants in early chaturanga and indian chess that mix up the name of both pieces (they sometimes put one in the spot of the other or viceversa). The most common movement for these pieces is the one I used in the video, which is based in Al-Biruni's description. I do speak a little about them in my other video about chess, but do not go into the specifics for them, as I speak more of the Queen. For more information on the early movement of the pieces you can also check H.J.R. Murray's "A History of Chess" chapters 2-4, or the very manuscript of Al Biruni (although he uses a boat instead of a chariot) cheers!

[@jacklazzaro9820]

@@ancientgaming4698 Do you have a copy? I’m thinking about purchasing one of my own, but what does the front cover of yours look like?

[@ancientgaming4698]

@@jacklazzaro9820 Hard copies for this book might be hard to find, and in many cases it will belong to University Libraries. But you do not have to go that far, the work is in public domain, you can find it in archive.org in pdf format

[@Quach7]

@@ancientgaming4698 When faced with confusion, go back to first principles. Which piece moves the fastest and in a straight line in real life? Chariots. The modern chess piece for a rook is a castle. Castles don't move. That's how I know the "castle" is the chariot.

[@Quach7]

@@ancientgaming4698 Boat? Give me a break. Boats go on water, not on land. The representations of the pieces can change. The rook in modern Chess is a Castle. Castles don't move. Underneath the changes in representations is the original, the Chariot. And "Bishops" don't go on the battlefield. They stay in churches. Elephants do.

[@GJagadeeswari-gy2yc]

Great video thank you

[@pdrl42]

Fantastic video!

[@ancientgaming4698]

Mil gracias :D!!!!

[@knightrider3414]

Great 👍👍👍

[@ancientgaming4698]

You are great!

[@MorrisonScotch]

The board for this game act is a lot more similar to parchisi than chess.

[@Quach7]

I thought so too.

[@Quach7]

I know Parcheesi from the game sold in Toys R Us.

[@Quach7]

22:26 You got the Elephant and Chariot mixed up. Elephants don't move that fast. Only chariots do. There are chariot races ala Ben Hur. Elephants don't run faster than chariots. Look at Chinese Chess, that is how the Elephant and Chariot moves in Chaturanga.

[@jasonwolf6417]

During when chaturaji was played battles were fought in mountain or forest like terrain ; chariots are only faster in plains that is why they become obsolate later. Elephant is faster then a chariot in mountain and forest like terrain. Here chariot represent supply lines that is why they never fought each other and this may be the reason they are also represented as boats because they were also used in supply lines.

[@Quach7]

@@jasonwolf6417 Look at Chinese Chess. Chinese Chess is closer to Chaturanga than Western Chess. 象 = Elephant (glyph of an elephant), almost identical to Chaturanga. 2 squares diagonally. 車 = Chariot (glyph of a chariot), identical to Chaturanga and Western chess. The "boat" is a later re-naming of the chariot by various countries. It is still in English. Like we say "shipping and handling", when we mean "trucking and handling." by don't "ship" by "ships", we "ship" by trucks.

[@jasonwolf6417]

@@Quach7 Name of the pieces in northern India were changed during middle ages Elephant/bishop = with camel Rook/chariot = with elephant The reason being in Vedic era chariots were elite forces having commanders but in middle ages commanders and kings start using elephant because chariots became obsolate . In some chaturaji version boat is replaced with camel. So my point is name of pieces were changed according to era. In Chaturanga (not chaturaji) at both corners elite warriors are kept; early they were in chariots later on elephants.

[@soliditycontract]

0:14 what is the cartoon movie's name?

[@NicoBabyman1]

That’s from TED-Ed’s video titled “A brief history of chess”. kzbin.info/www/bejne/j5alXmR8Yrp-hZIsi=eDaJPTFgNHk4UGNP

[@sandeepshetty1589]

chaduranga = chadu + ranga = four + colors

[@fisfej]

Great explanation, but please next time don’t stay that close to the camera, you’re making me dizzy. At least show your hands or shoulders 😂

[@ancientgaming4698]

Lessons learned since then 😂 glad yo enjoyed the video :D!

[@chandanmukherjee770]

Wait bruh I know about chaturanga cus I was from a zamindar faimy that existed at the time of skanda gupta 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 and the board I have have 2 players

[@chandanmukherjee770]

Raja Rath Hasthi Ghodha Mantri

[@thisischris5351]

So freaking handsome.

[@timetraveller245]

My father leart me how to play chess. He is a genius in the ancient form of chess "Chathuranga". Now he's is 75 years old and still I am unable to beat him in chess 😁

[@shadyantra]

You can ask your father if he knows the Shadyantra game invented by Bhagwan Agasthya played on 10x10 board

[@nullifye7816]

Why can you pronounce "sh" perfectly when it's Spanish and written as "z" or latinised Arabic and written with an accent, but can't a single time when it's English, even calling our language "Ingliss"? You know, the language you publish your videos in? Is that some kind of petty spite because you think you have to use English to achieve a wide audience?