﻿162 ON THE INDIAN 



in this imaginary warfare instead of a chariot, in which 

 the old Indian warriors constantly fought ; for, though 

 the king might be supposed to sit in a car, so that 

 the four angas would be complete, and though it may 

 often be necessary in a real campaign to pass rivers or 

 lakes, yet no river is marked on the Indian, as it is 

 on the Chinese chess-board ; and the intermixture of 

 ships with horses, elephants, and infantry embattled on 

 a plain, is an absurdity not to be defended. The use 

 of dice may, perhaps, be justified in a representa- 

 tion of war, in which j or tune has unquestionably a 

 great share ; but it seems to exclude chess from the rank 

 which has been assigned to it among the sciences, and 

 to give the game before us the appearance of whist* 

 except that pieces are used openly, instead of cards 

 which are held concealed : nevertheless, we find that 

 the moves in the game described by Vyasa were to a 

 certain degree regulated by chance; for he proceeds to 

 tell his royal pupil, that, " if cinque be thrown, the 

 *' king or a pawn must be moved; if quatre, the 

 " elephant ; it trois, the horse ; and if deux, the boat." 



He then proceeds to the moves : " The king passes 

 " freely on all sides, but over one square only; and 

 " with the same limitation, the pazvn moves, but he 

 " advances straight forward, and kills his enemy 

 " through an angle; the elephant marches in all direc- 

 " tions, as far as his driver pleases ; the horse runs 

 "obliquely, traversing three squares; and the ship 

 ?' goes over two squares diagonally." The elephant, 

 we find, has the powers of our queen, as we are pleased 

 to call the minister, or general, of the Persians; and the 

 ship has the motion of the piece to which we give the 

 unaccountable appellation of bishop; but with a restric- 

 tion which must greatly lessen his value. 



