Chaturanga
Chaturanga Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Board Setup
- Non-checkered 8x8 board with 64 squares available for the movement of pieces.1
- There are 16 pieces for each player, named as follows:
| Name | Pieces | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Raja, Rajah | 1 | King |
| Mantri, Senapati | 1 | Counselor/Adviser, General (Ferz) |
| Gaja/Dwipa | 2 | Elephant2 |
| Ashva/Ashwa/Asva, Turaga | 2 | Horse (Knight) |
| Ratha | 2 | Chariot (Rook) |
| Padati/Pedati/Patti/Bhata, Sainik | 8 | Foot Soldier, Warrior (Pawn) |
- King: During setup, the King is always placed in the central square that is on the player's right (i.e. Kings are not facing each other).
- Other pieces: Same as in International Chess.
Piece Moves
- King: Moves as a usual king, but additionally has the right to make one knight-move/capture during the game, provided that he hasn't been checked before he makes his knight-move/capture. Castling doesn't exist.
- Elephant: Jumps two squares diagonally.34
- Ferz: Moves one square diagonally.
- Pawn: Moves and takes as a usual pawn, but may not make a double step on its first move.
Pawn Promotion
Pawns can promote when they arrive at the last rank of the board, but only to the type of piece that was on the promotion-square in the opening setup. Additionally, promotion is only possible when the player has already lost a piece of that type. A consequence of this rule is that pawns never promote to kings.5
Special Rules
- The goal of the game is to checkmate the enemy King.
- There is no initial two-step Pawn move.
- There is no Castling option.
- Bare King counts as a Win.
- The player that stalemates their opponent loses the game.
Footnotes
Footnotes
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The Sanskrit name Chatur-Anga (meaning Four Parts) was used to refer to the Indian "Army" of Vedic times in which a platoon had four parts: one elephant, one chariot, three soldiers on horseback, and five foot-soldiers. Chaturanga is believed to have been developed between 400-450 AD in the Gupta Empire (320-540 AD), Northern India, based on a board from an earlier race game (related to Pachisi), known as the Ashtapada. The Sanskrit name Ashta-Pada (meaning Eight Steps) was used to refer to any board composed of 8x8 squares. Please see Appendix I of the source document for an attempted reconstruction of the Ashtapada race game. ↩
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Later in history, in an effort to reflect the real power of the Elephant in battle, the Elephant was replaced by a Camel (retaining the same move: jumping diagonally over one square); at the same time, they replaced the Chariot with the Elephant (giving the Elephant the Chariot's move: moving orthogonally any number of squares). Often in India, nowadays, the Rook piece is called the Elephant and the Bishop piece is called the Camel. ↩
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At a later stage in history (as described by Biruni in his India book around 1030 AD), the Elephant was given another move: one square forward or one square in any diagonal direction (think of the four legs and trunk of the elephant). ↩
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Another move ascribed to the Elephant was that stated by the Arabic chess master, Al-Adli, in his Chess Book around 840 AD; he stated that the move of the Elephant in India was an orthogonal two-square jump (i.e. jumping over one square to the left, right, back or forward). The German historian Johannes Kohtz (1843-1918) suggests, rather, that this was the earliest move of the Elephant.