German Indologists: Chess originated in UP

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Akhilesh Kumar Singh

*[ 9 Mar, 2007 0143hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]*

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LUCKNOW: It's like a Taj-like glory for Uttar Pradesh. A group of German

Indologists has claimed to have resolved the controversy over the origin of

chess in favour of Kannauj, a township about 75 km from Kanpur in the state.

 

 

Different countries, at some point in time, have been associated with the

game's invention including India, China, Persia (Iran), Egypt, Assyria,

Arabia, Greece, Ireland and Uzbekistan.

 

Many countries claim to have invented chess in some incipient form. But the

Indologists' group has almost come to the conclusion that chess originated

in Kannauj when it was the capital of Maukhari kingdom in the 6th century.

 

The Maukhari ruler Sharva Varman had gifted the game of 'chaturanga' to his

contemporary Persian ruler Khushrau-II in lieu of saltpetre (a variety of

gunpowder).

 

" According to the research done by us so far, we have reached the conclusion

that 'chaturanga' was the initial form of chess, " German researcher Manfred A

J Eder told TOI.

 

Eder heads the group which in the past one week visited Allahabad, Varanasi,

Kannauj, Kanpur and Lucknow, tracing the origin of chess.

 

Other members of the group are — chairman of Sacrmonte Institute for Public

Policy Leander A Feiler, Munich University professor Habil Sayed Ranate and

Robert S Dinsmore.

 

A recent book 'Kannauj, The Maukhari And Chaturanga — The origin of chess

and its way from India to Persia,' authored by Ranate, laid the foundation

for further research. The Maukhari rulers used to play 'chaturanga' with 16

cabinet terracotta before venturing into military campaigns, said Eder. Even

Banbhatta in his 'Harshcharita' had mentioned a game called 'ashtapada'

similar to chess, he added.

 

Historical accounts say during the later Gupta period there was an Indian

army school where cadets were taught about warfare through terracotta pieces

on 'ashtapada', which was again the game of chess in its primitive stage,

said Eder.

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Manfred Eder, Renate Syed and other German Indologists as well as several chess

historians in Europe have been doing exemplary work in Chess research in the

past decade to put India on the rightful place in chess history.We , five

Indian friends have been closely associated with them in this exciting venture.,

Prof Panduranga Bhatt , now at IIM kolkata, Prof.Balambal from Chennai, Prof

Vasantha from Anantpur, Prof Siddhartha Wakankar from Baroda and myself. We had

originally met at Wiesbaden, Germany in1997 for a seminar and several

publications came under the inspiring leadership of Mr.Eder in the

field.recently, we met at Lucknow to commemorate the meeting where I had the

fortune to read a paper on Bana's references to Chess, the earliest one in world

literature.Surely, Indian academia and Government of India, Archaelogical

department, ICHR and other bodies should do something in this area.

 

 

 

Dr.C.Rajendran

Professor of Sanskrit

University of Calicut

Calicut University P.O

Kerala 673 635 Phone: 0494-2401144

Residential address:28/1097,Rajadhani Kumaran Nair Road,

Chevayur, Calicut Kerala 673 017 Phone: 0495-2354 624

 

 

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