﻿485 



ON THE BURMHA 



Ancknt Hindoo Game of Chesa. 

 TABLE. 



Black army 



EEFERENCES. 

 I The King or Raja. 

 a The Elephant or Hasti. 



3 The Horse or Aswa. 



4 The Boat or Nauca. 

 or The Chariot or Ratha. 



5 The Pawns or Padata. 



Green army 



In the Hindoo game, I have ah-eady noticed, that 

 the principal distinction from the Enghsh consists 

 in liaving tour distinct armies and kings ; each army- 

 composed of half the number of pieces and pawTis 

 used in one of ours : secondly, the elephant holds 

 the station and po\ver of our queen ; thirdly, there 

 is a boat instead of our castle, but with the powers 

 of a bishop limited to a move of two checks at once ; 

 fourthly, the pawn or peon has not an optional rank 

 M'hen advanced to the last line of the adversary's 

 checks, merely assuming the rank of the piece whose 

 place he possesses (excepting the boat) ; fifthly, the 

 use of dice to determine tiie moves, as follows: 

 When a cinque is thrown, the king or pawn must be 

 moved ; a quatre, the elephant ; a trois, the horse ; 

 and a deux, the boat. Other variations are, that 

 the king, elephant, and horse may slay, but cannot 

 be slain : neither docs it appear that the king can 



be 



