1902,] H. G-. Raverty— The Invention of Chess and Backgammon. 55 
The wise men who were present daring the playing of the game, 
now succeeded in showing the Rani that this game represented the 
situation and positions of Gau and his brother, Talchand, on the 
occasion of the latter’s death, after being deserted by his followers, 
and being left on the field completely surrounded by his opponents ; 
that Gau himself never moved from his position in the slightest degree ; 
but that his forces had made Talchand “ shashdar ” or unable to move ; 
and that Talchand, finding himself in this position, out of his great 
pride, and the chagrin at the helpless state he found himself in, died, 
and thus became “ Shah Mat ” or undone—Check-mated. 
The Rani thus became convinced as to the cause and manner of her 
son Talchand’s death ; and she was satisfied in her mind that Gau had 
not slain his brother. She now learnt the game, and began herself to 
play it; and whenever the “ Shah Mat ” came about, she would melt 
into tears at the remembrance of her son’s fate ; and Gau now became 
ruler of the country. 
It is from these words “ Shah Mat,” that the words “ Check Mate” 
are derived, showing how words in the course of ages, handed down, 
too, from one race of people to another, become vitiated. The word 
“ Mat ” is derived from the ‘Arabic mdta , “ he is dead ” ; and is used in 
Persian to signify ‘ conquered ’; ‘ subjected,’ ‘ reduced to the last extre¬ 
mity,’ etc. Both Shah and Badshah mean a king or sovereign, but 
the former word is given as a name to a man, as well as being used as 
a title, but the latter very rarely so, as in the title and names of the 
famous Saljuk sovereign, Sultan Malik Shah, all three words being of 
the same meaning ; but the first is his title, and the latter his name, 
Malik Shah. The word “ Rukh,” likewise, which Europeans call the 
Rook or Castle, has various meanings, one of which is the name of the 
fabulous bird of the “ Arabian Nights,” and other eastern romances 
and traditions (but vitiated into “ Roc ”), and after which word, “ Rukh,” 
eastern lexicographers say, one of the pieces in chess was named. 
It remains now to be mentioned how and in what manner the game 
of chess was first introduced into Iran-Zamin or the ancient Persian 
empire. 
That part of western Hind or India lying nearest to Persia, which 
at present constitutes the province of Sind, and the southern part of 
the country of the Panj Ab or Five Rivers, at the period in question, 
and for a long time after, was well peopled, and in a flourishing condi¬ 
tion. The Mihran of Sind, the great river known as the Great Mihran, 
or Hakra, or Wahindah, and now known as “ the Lost River of the 
Indian Desert,” or more correctly, the Dried up Hakra, flowed through 
the middle of the country and fertilized it. The Sindhu, or Indus of 
