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Board Game Studies Colloquium VIII
Abstracts
Maria Schetelich
THE MAD KING'S GAME or The Rakshasa Way of Playing Chess
Sanskrit texts on the Indian games of chess (caturanga) at times refer to
peculiar or 'incorrect' playing, i.e. not following the prescribed rules and
sometimes call these deviations 'the Asura or Rakshasa way of playing'. In
Indian mythology Asuras or Rakshasas are the demons or anti-gods who are a
constant source of trouble to the gods because of their rashness and their
insatiable hunger for fighting. It might well be that one of the variants of
Indian chess - 'The Mad King's Game', in which a king without his army
stands up against his fully equipped adversary - reflects this image of the
Asuras or Rakshasas.
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