Chaturanga (6th Century) - Updated

Chaturanga (Sanskrit: चतुरङ्ग; caturaṅga), or catur for short, is an ancient Indian strategy game that is commonly theorized to be the common ancestor of the board games chess, shogi, sittuyin, and makruk.

Chaturanga is first known from the Gupta Empire in India around the 6th century AD. In the 7th century, it was adopted as chatrang (shatranj) in Sassanid Persia, which in turn was the form of chess brought to late-medieval Europe.

The exact rules of chaturanga are unknown. Chess historians suppose that the game had similar rules to those of its successor, shatranj. In particular, there is uncertainty as to the moves of the Gaja (elephant).

Krishna and Radha playing chaturanga on an 8×8 ashtāpada

Rules

• Raja (king) (also spelled Rajah): moves one step in any direction (vertical, horizontal or diagonal), the same as the king in chess. There is no castling in chaturanga.
• Mantri (minister or counsellor); also known as Senapati (general): moves one step diagonally in any direction, like the fers in shatranj.
• Ratha (chariot) (also known as Śakata): moves the same as a rook in chess- whereby the rook moves horizontally or vertically, through any number of unoccupied squares.
• Gaja (elephant) (also known as Hastin): three different moves are described in ancient literature:
  1. Two squares in any diagonal direction, jumping over the first square, as the alfil in Iranian shatranj, Ethiopian senterej, Mongolian Tamerlane chess and medieval courier chess. This is a fairy chess piece that is a (2,2)-leaper.
     • The same move is used for the boat in Indian chaturaji, a four-player version of chaturanga.
     • The elephant in Chinese xiangqi has the same move, but without jumping.
     • The elephant in Korean jangqi has a very similar move, also without jumping.
  2. One step forward or one step in any diagonal direction.
     • The same move is used for the khon (nobleman) in Thai makruk and the sin (elephant) in Burmese sittuyin, as well as for the silver general in Japanese shogi.
     • The move was described c. 1030 by Biruni in his book India.
  3. Two squares in any orthogonal (vertical or horizontal) direction, jumping over the first square.
     • A piece with such a move is called a dabbābah in some chess variants. The move was described by the Arabic chess master al-Adli c. 840 in his (partly lost) chess work. (The Arabic word dabbāba in former times meant a covered siege engine for attacking walled fortifications; today it means "army tank").
     • This is reminiscent of the aforementioned chaturaji, where the elephant moves as a rook.
     • The German historian Johannes Kohtz (1843–1918) suggests, rather, that this was the earliest move of the Ratha.
• Ashva (horse) (also spelled Ashwa or Asva): moves the same as a knight in chess.
• Padàti or Bhata (foot-soldier or infantry) (also spelled Pedati); also known as Sainik (warrior): moves and captures the same as a pawn in chess, but without a double-step option on the first move.

Al-Adli mentions two further differences:

• Stalemate was a win for a stalemated player. This rule appeared again in some medieval chess variants in England c. 1600. According to some sources, there was no stalemate, though this is improbable.
• The player that is first to bare the opponent's king (i.e. capture all enemy pieces except the king) wins. In shatranj this is also a win, but only if the opponent cannot bare the player's king on his next turn.