Chaturanga
(Caturanga, Catur)
Ruleset:
Manasollasa
Game
See the game Chaturanga for more details.
Period(s)
Medieval
Summary
Rules from Manasollasa.
Description
These rules are described in the Manasollasa, from a German translation by Bock-Raming.
Rules
Played on an 8x8 board. 8 Bhata (or Padati; move like Chess pawns but without being able to move two on the first turn); 2 Ashva (horses; move like Chess knights); 2 Gaja (elephants; two spaces in any orthogonal direction, jumping over the first square); 2 Ratha (chariots; moves like a rook in chess); 1 Mantri (counselor; moves one square diagonally in any direction); 1 Raja (king; moves one square in any direction). These are set up along one edge of the board: Ratha-Ashva-Gaja-Mantri-Raja-Gaja-Ashva-Ratha, with the eight Bhata lined up in the row in front of these, as in chess. Players take turns moving. When one piece lands on the space occupied by another piece, it is captured. Play continues until one player's king cannot move without being captured.
Concepts
Browse all concepts for Manasollasa here.
Reference
Bock-Raming 1996.
Other Rulesets
Scholarly rulesets
Elephant Diagonal Jump
Elephants jump to the second space diagonally.
Elephant Diagonal Move
Elephants move one space diagonally.
Origin
India
Identifiers
DLP.GameRulesets.145
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