Chess History India
When Chess was invented in India, it was called chaturanga which is Sanskrit for "four-membered" Since the Indian armies were then composed of fourdivisions infantry (padati), cavalry (ashwa), chariots (ratha) and elephants (gajah)-this was the equivalent of 'army game'.
The Raja (King) the Ashwa (Knight) and the ratha (Rook) all moved as their
modern equivalents do but the Mantri meaning minister (modern Queen) could
move only one adjacent diagonal square. The camel (Bishop) moved diagonally,
leaping over the adjacent square to the next. The padati (Pawn) moved as the
pawn does now ;but it couldn't move two squares initially and when it reached
the 8th rank it had to be promoted to a Minister (Queen) which didn't much
increase it's strength.
Castling was not known, but the objective of the game was the same as it has
always been-to deliver checkmate Or a player could win by capturing all his
opponents army (with the exception of the Raja which like the modern king was
not to be taken).
The pieces were initially arranged as their modern equivalents on a board of
sixty-four squares known as Ashtapada. This was, however, unchequered and was
borrowed from a much older type of game that was the ancestor of modern
"backgammon".
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