54 H. G-. Raverty— The Invention of Chess and Backgammon. [No. 1, 
As soon as Darabir became firmly established in possession, and 
affairs had assumed a settled state, he married the widow of his late 
brother, the mother of Gan; and she in due course of time bore him a 
son, who w r as named Talchand. Not long after Darabir also died, and 
the twice widowed mother of these two sons by her two husbands, was 
left to administer the affairs of the country, until her eldest son should 
be capable of doing so, and she accordingly assumed the reins of 
Government. But as her two sons grew up, rivalry arose between 
them, which continued to increase, until, at last, when they had attained 
near unto man’s estate and years of discretion, they began openly to 
quarrel for the possession of the sovereignty. Notwithstanding that 
their partizans and supporters and well-wishers endeavoured to pacify 
them, and bring about a reconciliation between the rivals, their efforts 
were of no avail, and, at last, the two brothers came to an open rup¬ 
ture, and hostilities ensued between them. Having mustered their 
followers, they come to an encounter, during which, the forces of 
Talchand took to flight, leaving him on the field among his adversaries. 
He was mounted on an elephant, and was unable to get out of the 
melee , and manfully stood his ground. His brother’s forces had so 
completely surrounded him, indeed, that his elephant could not move 
one way or other, and his escape was entirely cut off ; and in this help¬ 
less state he died of pride and chagrin. His mother was overwhelmed 
with grief at his loss, and would not be comforted ; and it was with 
great difficulty that she could be prevented from ascending the funeral 
pyre with the corpse of her son, Talchand. 
Gau, her eldest, sent a message to his mother, in order to clear 
himself from the supposition that he had caused his brother to be put 
to death, and at the same time, besought her to abandon the idea of des¬ 
troying herself; that he had had nothing to do with his brother’s death, 
which had happened in the manner related above. Gau then directed 
the sages of Sind to adopt some means of demonstrating to his mother 
how Talchand was situated at the time of his death ; and this one of 
them succeeded in doing by means of the game of chess, in which he 
had managed to interest her. He took the chess-men and chequered 
cloth, and showed her how the game was played. In the course of the 
game the Shah Badshah, or Shah, the King, on the board or cloth, 
became shashdar, or unable to move, and the Foot-men, the Elephant 
(the Bishop of Europeans), the Horse-man (the Knight or Chevalier), 
and the Wazir or Queen, surrounded the Shah Badshah or King, on 
all sides, when the players exclaimed: “ Shah mat ” or 11 Shah, 
the King, is undone or destroyed,” and having no move left, and no 
means of flight or retreat, he perished accordingly, and the game was won. 
