49 
1902.] H. G. Raverly—- The Invention of Chess and Backgammon. 
it was received with the utmost interest and delight; and after it had 
become generally known, the people of Fars (Persia proper) used to 
make a great boast of it, and to exult over those of Sind adjoining 
them. On this account the ruler of Sind is said to have sent for the 
sage Sahsih (Sahasi) and to have commanded him to try and invent 
some other game, which should entirely surpass this boasted Persian 
game of Nard , but to be also played like it, on a chequered cloth, and 
which among the wise, should be considered much more intellectual, 
and to require much greater skill, and far deeper thought, to play 
successfully. 
But some centuries elapsed between the time of Ard-shir Babakan, 
who was the first monarch of the fourth or Sasanian dynasty of ancient 
Persia, and that of Nuh-shirwan, who was the first of the fifth or 
Akasirah dynasty, and in whose reign the Rai or ruler of Sind is said 
to have sent him a set of chess-men, and a chequered cloth to play it 
on, as presently to be related. 
In the Sindi, as well as in the Hindi dilects, the name of this game 
is said to be derived from the Sanskrit word Chaturan, signifying 
* artful,’ ‘ cunning,’ and also ‘ variegated,’ ‘ bi-coloured,’ ‘ tesselated,’ 
1 chequered ’; which is said to refer to the several members, pieces, or 
component parts, a mere figure of speech referring to the elephant, the 
horse, the chariot, and the foot soldier, common man, or pawn. The 
Persians rejected the short u in the word, and called it Shat rang, while 
the ’Arabs styled the game Shatranj. 1 
The statement regarding its invention, contained in a famous old 
book, entitled “ Nafayis-ul-Funun,” or “ Precious Things in Science,” 
is as follows. 
Sahsih (Sahasi), also known as Laj-Laj, son of Dakir, which latter 
was one of the ancient rulers of Sind (and the last of the Rais or 
1 An amusing scene occurred on one occasion with reference to the pronuncia¬ 
tion of the name of chess, at a Court of Requests at Poonah in 1851 of which I 
was a member, when the Assistant Bazar-Master, who acted as Interpreter to the 
Court, mistook the word Shatranar—Chess—for Shatranj I—a Carpet. A native, one 
of the professed chess players, had made a claim on a young Queen’s officer totally 
ignorant of the language, for money lost to him while playing chess, and which the 
Interpreter rendered, “ money , the price of a carpet .” When the President was 
about to give the claim in the native’s favour—and the Interpreter had had ample 
time to correct his mistake, had he known of it—I ventured to observe that the 
Interpreter had made “ a slight mistake,” and that the claim was not for a carpet, 
but for money lost at chess, and which, on being again asked, the native confessed. 
On this the President, a hot old Colonel, thundered out to the claimant: “ Get 
away you insolent rascal! I have a great mind to order you a flogging, coming 
here and taking up the time of the Court with your gambling claims ! ” 
J. i. 7 
