Ans. In the area of recreation and sports India had evolved a number of games. One would be surprised to know today that games like, Chess, Snakes and Ladders, Playing Cards, Polo, the martial arts of Judo and Karate had originated in India and it was from here that these games were transmitted to foreign countries, where they were further developed. Kalaripayat from Kerala was transmitted to China by a sage named Boddhidharma in the 5th century The Chinese called him Po-ti-tama He taught this art in a temple This temple is today known as the Shaolin temple.

Thus Judo, Karate, Kung Fu and other similar marshal arts which are today identified with the far-east actually originated from India. At times the changes made in the original nature of the Indian sport-forms were so many and so fundamental that the game lost all similarity with its original form in India. Some Indian games were not transmitted abroad and remained confined to India.

For instance we have Kabbadi, Kho-Kho, AtyaPatya, Malkhamb, Gulli-danda, etc., which are being played today exclusively in India. In this chapter we shall look into how the games like Chess and Ludo (Snakes and Ladders), the martial art of Karate, and Playing cards had existed in India for the past 2000 years and how in some cases the indigenous form of the game became totally extinct erasing the fact that- the game had ever been played in India.

CHESS: A game very similar to modern Chess and Ludo was played in ancient India. In this game there used to be four participants due to which it was named Chaturanga meaning 'four bodies'. This four-bodied game was played with counters and a dice (aksha). Another name for this game was Astapada meaning 'eight steps'. This game was perhaps the progenitor of both modern day games of Chess and Ludo. There are instances in Indian history of this game being played. Chess originated in ancient India and was known as "Chatur-Anga" Meaning 4 bodied, as it was played by 4 players.

From this name we have its current name "Shatranj" One such instance is in the Mahabharata when Pandavas and Kauravas play this game. Yudhistira the eldest of the Pandavas places his bets on his kingdom, his wife Draupadi and all other material possessions. And by a malevolent trick he loses to the Kauravas everything that he had placed his bets on. Consequently to humiliate the Pandavas, Dushasana one of the evil Kaurava brothers takes hold of Draupadi whom Yudhisthira has lost to the Kauravas, and tries to disrobe her in front of the assembled court. The Pandavas though powerful are helpless as they have lost Draupadi and according to the rules of the game they have no claim on her anymore.

In distress, Draupadi invokes Lord Srikrishna to come to her rescue. And in answer to her prayers the lord appears and in a miracle sends a continuous stream of apparel to clothe Draupadi's body. The evil Dushasana tires himself out trying to tear away Draupadi's clothes but he is powerless against the divine strength of Lord Srikrishna. After hours of struggling to achieve his evil intention he falls unconscious to the floor. Draupadi's honour is saved. In deference to Lord Srikrishna's wishes, the Kauravas relinquish their claim to Draupadi.

But in return the Pandavas are obliged to relinquish their kingdom for fourteen years and go into exile in forests, after which they return and regain their kingdom from the Kauravas, but not before a devastating war is fought between the two clans on the battlefield of Kurutshetra. The Mahabharata story throws light on the fact that a game similar to Chess was played in ancient India.

The Mahabharata is variously dated around 800 and 1100 B.C. Thus this game was known in India nearly 3000 years ago. It is the view of some historians that this game was also used in the allocation of land among different members of a clan when a new settlement was being established. The Indian origin of the game of chess is supported even by the Encylopedia Britannica according to which, "About 1783-89 Sir. William Jones, in an essay published in the 2nd Vol. of Asiatic Researches, argued that Hindustan was the cradle of chess, the game having been known there from time immemorial by the name Chaturanga, that is,

the four angas, or members of an army, which are said in the Amarakosha (an ancient Indian Dictionary - S.B.) to be elephants, horses, chariots and foot soldiers.As applicable to real armies, the term Chaturanga is frequently used by the epic poets of India. Sir William Jones' essay is substantially a translation of the Bhawishya Purana, in which is given a description of a four-handed game of chess played with dice." "Sir William, however, grounds his opinions as to the Hindu origin of chess upon the testimony of the Persians and not upon the above manuscript,

" He lays it down that chess, under the Sanskrit name Chaturanga was exported from India into Persia in the 6th century of our era; that by a natural corruption, the old Persians changed the name into chatrang. But when their country was soon afterwards taken possession of by the Arabs, who had neither the initial nor the final letter of the word in their alphabet, they altered it further into Shatranj, which name found its way presently into modern Persian and ultimately into the dialects of India." The Encyclopedia Britannica further says that Wander Linde, in his exhaustive work, Geschichte and Litteraturdes Schachspiels (1874), has much to say of the origin-theories, nearly all of which he treats as so many myths.

He agrees with those who consider that the Persians received the game from the Hindus. The outcome of his studies appears to be that chess certainly existed in Hindustan in the 8th century, and that probably that country is the land of its birth. He inclines to the idea that the game originated among the Buddhists, whose religion was prevalent in India from the 3rd to the 9th century.

According to their ideas, war and slaying of one's own fellow-men, for any purpose whatever, is criminal, and the punishment of the warrior in the next world will be much worse than that of the simple murderer, hence chess was invented as a substitute for war. " "H.J.R. Murry in his monumental work A History of Chess, comes to the conclusion that chess is a descendant of an Indian game played in the 7th century."

According to the Encylopedia "Altogether, therefore, we find the best authorities agreeing that chess existed in India before it is known to have been played anywhere else. In this supposition they are strengthened by the names of the game and some of its pieces. Shatranj as Forbes has pointed out, is a foreign word among the Persians and the Arabians, whereas its natural derivation from the term Chaturanga is obvious. Again affix the Arabic name for the bishop, means the elephant, derived from alephhind, the Indian elephant." Even the word checkmate is derived from the Persian term Shah Mat which means 'the king is dead!'.

The Sanskrit translation of this term would be Kshatra Mruta. Another term viz. 'the rooks' which is the name for one set of the counters used in chess, originated from the Persian term Roth which means a soldier. The Persian term according to the Encyclopedia is derived from the Indian term Rukh, which obviously seems to have originated in the Sanskrit word Rakshak which means a soldier from Raksha which means 'to protect'.

About the introduction of this game into Persia, the Encylopedia says that "The Persian poet Firdousi, in his historical poem, the Shahnama, gives an account of the introduction of Shatranj into Persia in the reign of Chosroes I Anushirwan, to whom came ambassadors from the sovereign of Hind (India), with a chess-board and men asking him to solve the secrets of the game, if he could or pay tribute.

The king asked for seven days grace, during which time the wise men vainly tried to discover the secret. Finally, the king's minister took the pieces home and discovered the secret in a day and a night." The Encyclopedia Britannica concludes that "Other Persian and Arabian writers state that Shatranj came into Persia from India and there appears to be a concensus of opinion that may be considered to settle the question.

Thus we have the game passing from the Hindus to the Persians and then to the Arabians, after the capture of Persia by the Caliphs in the 7th century, and from them, directly or indirectly, to various parts of Europe,

at a time which cannot be definitely fixed, but either in or before the 10th century. That the source of the European game

is Arabic is clear enough, nor merely from the words "check" and "mate", which are evidently from Shah mat ("the king is dead"), but also from the names of some of the pieces". Thus it was from India that theancient Persians are said to have learnt this game, and from them it was transmitted to the Greco Roman world. The evidence of the Persians having borrowed this game from India is seen in the name the Persians gave to it.

The Persian word for chess is Chatrang, which was later changed by the Arabs to Shatranj. As said in Encyclopedia Britannica, thig word is obviously a corruption of the Sanskrit original Chaturanga. The other term Astapada meaning eight steps, which was also used to describe this game in ancient India, perhaps was a description for the eight steps (Squares) which the modern Chessboard, has.

The modern Chessboard is chequered with 64 (8 x 8) squares in all, with eight squares on each side. The old English word for chess which is Esches, possibly stems from this eight squared aspect of the game as did the Sanskrit word Astapada.

THE MARTIAL ARTS - KARATE AND JUDO: Many eyebrows would be raised when an Indian lays claim to the martial arts of Judo and Karate. Such askance is understandable. Everybody the world over knowns that it was the countries of the far-east China, Korea and Japan who have given these arts to us. The finest exponents of Karate, Judo come from these countries, schools like Shaolin and Ninja that have nurtured these arts are from the far-east. But in the distant corner of India a dying martial art exists which comes significantly close to Karate.

This art from is called Kalaripayate. The practitioners of Kalaripayate have to develop acrobatic capabilities and use swords or knives to attack an opponent Judo and karate which are coming to India from the far-east originated in ancient India This art from seems to have travelled from India to the countries of the far-east alongwith the Buddhist religion. Buddhists monks who travelled barefoot and unarmed to spread the gospel of Buddha seem to have accepted this art with alterations suitable to the philosophy of nonviolence.

Such a technique of defence would have been necessary for them as they travelled individually or in small groups in foreign lands during which they were exposed to dangers from bandits and fanatics from other religions. Buddhist monks seem to have tempered the originally violent character of this art.

The violent and exterminative nature of Kalaripayate is evient from the daggers and knives that are used. Unlike Kalaripayate, Judo and Karate do not allow the use of lethal weapons. The aim of a Karate practitioner is mainly to disarm and disable his opponent without mortally wounding him. This can be looked upon as a reflection of the Buddhist attitude towards life. Further both Judo and Karate are deeply interwoven with meditation unlike other martial arts like boxing, wrestling, fencing, etc.

The concentration aspect in Judo and Karate perhaps stems from this. Both Judo and Karate are sought to be kept as arts to be used for just purposes for pro tection of the weak, etc., The oath that every student of these disciplines has to take is evidence of this. A teacher of Judo or Karate traditionally commands deep respect of students and a lesson always starts with a bow of the students to the teacher.

The teacher here is not looked upon only as a coach as in western martial arts like boxing and fencing. This relationship between a teacher and student in Judo and Karate could have its roots in the Guru-Shishya tradition of India.

Thus it is quite possible that these martial art forms originated in southern India and were transmitted to China, Korea and Japan by Buddhist monks. But it has to be conceded that they were neglected in India where like Buddhism they atrophied and today the world considers them to be a legacy bequeated by the countries of the far-east.

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