The Games of India

The game of chess is generally believed to have originated on the Indian subcontinent. Pratapaditya Pal, General Editor of Marg Publications and formerly Senior Curator of Indian and Southeast Asian Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, writes, "While the literary evidence is scanty, the archaeological remains that can be considered to have an association with chess do seem to push the history of the game at least to the ist century bee." In Topsfield's introductory essay, he writes that chess was once used to teach the military arts of strategy. "Chess is indeed one of India's most far-reaching and enduring contributions to world culture. Having conquered Europe via Persia and the Islamic world a thousand years ago, it still remains-in its i5th century modified European form-the leading global board game of skill."