Oblong dice have been found at Harappan sites. Rig Veda & Atharva Veda reference gambling. Sanskrit word for dice is ‘pasa’, adopted by Hindi. Skanda Purana has a mystical yet irreverent story of Siva & Parvati bickering over a game of dice, an episode depicted by many sculptures, most notably at Ellora caves.
That gambling was a fit vice of kings is demonstrated by the game between the Kuru cousins, so central to the Mahabharata plot. TV adaptations show Yudhistira playing chaupar, but we don’t know for sure what game he gambled at. Many cloth boards used for chaupar, chausar & pachisi have been found at medieval sites. Akbar was addicted to it, says Abul Fazl who describes it as a game from times immemorial.
The board was in the form of a cross, thus the name chau-par (four ends) or chau-sar (four roads). It was played with 16 pieces and 3 stick dice. ‘Pachisi’ was the poor man’s version of Chaupar. Instead of being played with stick dice, it is played with cowries, small shells. Value of the throw depended on the number of “mouths” or clefts which are up. The highest throw is with all five “mouths” up, valued at twenty-five, thus the name ‘pachisi’.
The image from Harappa.com shows a dice excavated at a Harappan site. Notice how similar it is to a modern dice.
Source: W Norman Brown, ‘The Indian Games of Pachisi, Chaupar, and Chausar’, Expedition Magazine, 1964, from PennMuseum
Oblong dice have been found at Harappan sites. Rig Veda & Atharva Veda reference gambling. Sanskrit word for dice is ‘pasa’, adopted by Hindi. Skanda Purana has a mystical yet irreverent story of Siva & Parvati bickering over a game of dice, an episode depicted by many sculptures, most notably at Ellora caves.
That gambling was a fit vice of kings is demonstrated by the game between the Kuru cousins, so central to the Mahabharata plot. TV adaptations show Yudhistira playing chaupar, but we don’t know for sure what game he gambled at. Many cloth boards used for chaupar, chausar & pachisi have been found at medieval sites. Akbar was addicted to it, says Abul Fazl who describes it as a game from times immemorial.
The board was in the form of a cross, thus the name chau-par (four ends) or chau-sar (four roads). It was played with 16 pieces and 3 stick dice. ‘Pachisi’ was the poor man’s version of Chaupar. Instead of being played with stick dice, it is played with cowries, small shells. Value of the throw depended on the number of “mouths” or clefts which are up. The highest throw is with all five “mouths” up, valued at twenty-five, thus the name ‘pachisi’.
The image from Harappa.com shows a dice excavated at a Harappan site. Notice how similar it is to a modern dice.
Source: W Norman Brown, ‘The Indian Games of Pachisi, Chaupar, and Chausar’, Expedition Magazine, 1964, from PennMuseum
