[INDOLOGY] Two findings related to the history of chess/caturanga

[Christophe Vielle]

Dear List,

I am glad to inform you that

1°) the "shatranj" and Kerala caturaṅga moving of the elephant is well represented in the 9th c. Rudraṭa’s Kāvyālaṃkāra 5.16, which citra I propose to understand like this (sorry for the squares) :

ye      nā      nā      dhī     nā      vā      dhī     rā

A1      B9      B18   C26    B3     D11    C20    E28

nā      dhī      vā     rā       dhī     rā       rā       jan

B5      C13     D22   E30    C7     E15     E24    F32

kiṃ     nā      nā      śaṃ   nā      kaṃ    śaṃ   te

A17     B25    B2      C10   B19    D27    C4     E12

nā       śaṃ    kaṃ    te      śam    te       te       jaḥ

B21     C29     D6      E14    C23   E31     E8     F16


contra Jacobi (1896), Macdonell (JRAS 1898) or Rajendran (1998), but taking into account the "non-chess" understanding of the stanza by Gerow's Glossary of Indian figures of Speech (1971, pp. 180-181) and Lienhard's Classical Poetry (Hist Ind Lit vol. 3,  pp. 144-145), two references kindly drawn to my attention by Alesandro Battistini (Un. La Sapienza, Roma).

2°) Alessandro Battistini has himself found another 9th citra of the horse-moving (in addition to Rudraṭa’s Kāvyālaṃkāra 5.15 one) : it is Ratnākara's Haravijaya (*) 43.145-146. I quote him:

 If you construct 145 in this way (I give the correct reading, contained in the footnote), you derive stanza 146 (the so called prastāra, derived stanza) by moving as a horse on the chessboard. The last syllable of 146 (sit) is left out. I have written in bold the first 4 akṣaras, in order sahasādi). Both the stanzas have their own meaning.

bhā  se    ddhā   ta     tra    ta     na      nā 
sā    di     mā      yā    da    se     vi       tā
sā    sa    ha       sta    ta    yā     śā      nta
sā    rā     hi        ta     sa    mi    dyu     tā 

(*) http://ia700702.us.archive.org/0/items/Kavya_Mala_Series_Of_Nirnaya_Sagar_Press/KavyamalaVol_22-HaravijayaOfRajanakaRatnakara1890.pdf

Best wishes,
Christophe Vielle

and thanks again to Peter Wyzlic for providing me with a copy of Rajendran's article :

Le 5 févr. 2015 à 15:47, Christophe Vielle <christophe.vielle at uclouvain.be> a écrit :

> Dear List,
> 
> I would like to confront the interpretation of C. Rajendran
> “Caturaṅga movements described in Rudraṭa’s Kāvyālaṃkāra”, Adyar Library Bulletin 62 (1998), pp. 99-107 
> with the explanation of the same passage (*) by H. Jacobi,   
> “Ueber zwei ältere Erwähnungen des Schachspiels in der Sanskrit-Litteratur”,  Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 50 (1896), pp. 227-233 (cf. Kleine Schriften, éd. Bernhard Kölver,Wiesbaden : Steiner, 1970, t. 1, pp. 540-546)
> http://menadoc.bibliothek.uni-halle.de/dmg/periodical/titleinfo/62900
> 
> However, even C. Rajendran himself is unable to provide me with a (.pdf) copy of  his article. 
> Would it be possible that someone has a scan of this Adyar Library Bulletin article (that I should also forward to his author).
> Thank you in advance,
> 
> Best wishes,
> 
> Christophe Vielle
> 
> (*) See the 1886 ed. Kavya Mala Series vol. 2
> http://ia700702.us.archive.org/0/items/Kavya_Mala_Series_Of_Nirnaya_Sagar_Press/KavyamalaVol_02-KavyalankaraOfRudrata1886.pdf
> –––––––––––––––––––
> Christophe Vielle
> Louvain-la-Neuve
> 
> _______________________________________________
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> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
> http://listinfo.indology.info

–––––––––––––––––––
Christophe Vielle
Louvain-la-Neuve



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