|
Evidence in Punjab
3 pieces of evidence found.
Id DLP.Evidence.1457
Type Ethnography
Game Bára Guti
Date 1919-01-01 - 1919-12-31
Rules The board consists of 5x5 intersecting lines with diagonals of each quadrant. Pieces are placed on the intersections and can move along the lines. Each player has 12 pieces. Pieces can move to one adjacent point. Captures can be made by hopping over an opponent's piece. The goal is to capture all of the opponent's pieces.
Content "In the year 1919 I had an occasion to visit the Chor pek in the neighbourhood of SImla and in course of the march from Phagu to the bank of the rive Giri, I came across a square drawn on a rock surface, the square being divided into a number of smaller squares by means of lines as shown in the following figure...According to the rules of the game two persons are necessary for playing it and the players are to provide themselves with twenty-four pieces of small stones or gravels of two different descriptions so that they can be easily recognized. The diagram shows that there are twenty-five points where two or more straight lines have met. These points may be called cross-points. Each of these cross-points, with the exception of the central one, has got a playing piece set on it. The move begins after completion of this arrangement and when a player has one of his own playing pieces set next to one of his opponent's in such a way that the next cross-point in the same right line is vacant, the former's piece can jump over the latter's one, occupy the enemy cross-point and the former player takes away the piece belonging to the latter. The player who can, in this way, capture all the pieces belonging to his adversary is declared to be the winner of the game. The game is not confined to the hills, but, as I could gather through the kindness of my friend Mr. Shiva Raj, it is also found in the Punjab plains and goes by the name of bára guti (twelve ballets)." das-Gupta 1923: 510-511.
Confidence 100
Spaces Outside
Source Das-Gupta, H.C. 1923. "Notes on a Type of Sedentary Game Prevalent in Many Parts of India." Journal and Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 19: 71-74.
Id DLP.Evidence.1984
Type Ethnography
Game Four-Player Chaturanga (al-Biruni)
Date 0973-01-01 - 1048-12-31
Rules Four players. Played with two six-sided dice. A throw of 5 is counted as 1, a throw of 6 is counted as 4.Throws move the pieces as follows: 1: Pawn or King, which move the same as in Shatranj; 2: Rook, which jumps to the second diagonal space; 3: Horse, which moves orthogonally one space and then diagonally another space, jumping over any intervening pieces; 4: Elephant, which moves orthogonally any distance. Throwing doubles allows the player to move the same piece twice. Kings may be captured. Pieces are assigned values, which award the players stakes at the end of the game: King=5, Elephant=4, Horse=3, Rook=2, Pawn=1. If a player captures all of the other Kings and is still in possession of their own King, the score awarded is 54. The player with the most points wins.
Content Discussion of Four-player Chaturanga as witnessed by Al-Biruni during his travels to India (specifically, Punjab): "The play chess, four persons at a time, with a pair of dice, Their arrangement of the figures on the chess board is the following: As this kind of chess is not known to us, I shall explain what I know of it. The four persons playing together sit so asa to form a square round a chessboard, and throw the two dice in rotation. Of the numbers of the dice the 5 and 6 are not required. Accordingly, if the dice show 5 or 6. the player takes 1 instead of 5, and 4 instead of 6...The name of the King applies here to the Firzan. Each number of the dice causes a move of one of the figures. The One moves either the Pawn or the King. Their moves aere the same as in the common chess. The King may be taken, but is not required to move his place. The Two moves the Rook. It moves to the third square in the diagonal direction, as the elephant moves in our chess. The Three moves the Horse. Its move is the generally known one to the third square in the oblique direction. The Four moves the Elephant. It moves in a straight line, as the Rook does in our chess, unless it is prevented from moving on. If this be the case, as sometimes happens, one of the dice removes the obstacle, and enables it to move on. Its smallest move is one square, its greatest 15 squares, because the dice sometimes show two fours, or two sixes, or a four and a six. ...The pieces have certain values, according to which the player gets his share of the stakes; for the pieces are taken and pass into the hands of the player. The value of the King is 5, that of the Elephant 4, of the Horse 3, of the Rook 2, and of the Pawn 1. He who takes a King gets 5, for two Kings he gets 10, for three kings 15, if the winner is no longer in possession of his own king. But if he still has his own king, and takes all three kings, he gets 54." Murray 1913: 58.
Confidence 100
Ages Adult
Social status Elite
Genders Male
Source Murray, H. J. R. 1913. A History of Chess. London: Oxford University Press.
Id DLP.Evidence.1986
Type Ethnography
Game Two-Player Chaturanga (al-Biruni)
Date 0973-01-01 - 1043-12-31
Rules The Elephant moves forward one space or diagonally forward or backward.
Content Account from al-Biruni's India, as he observed the game during his trip to Punjab: "In playing chess they move the Elephant straight on, not to the other sides, one square at a time like the Pawn, and also to the four corners like the Firzan. They say that these five squares-i.e. the one straight forward and the others at the corners-are the places occupied by the trunk and the four feet of the Elephant." Murray 1913: 57-58.
Confidence 100
Source Murray, H. J. R. 1913. A History of Chess. London: Oxford University Press.
|
