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Автор книги:  Шиляев А.П. "Ранняя история шахмат: до чатуранги",  ИД "Герценка",2017 г            

                       Summary

 Shilyaev A.  "The early history of chess: to Chaturanga".

            This book is devoted to the study of the Indian game Chaturanga and the early history of chess. The analysis of the source sources shows the Buddhist origin of this game. The author offers a new concept of the emergence of Chaturanga, which is a reflection of the Buddhist military and political doctrine of the ideal worldly ruler – Chakravartin. He acts as a defender of the teachings on four continents (Buddhist monastery). The сonquest assumes not violence, but appeal to the Dharma of new supporters.  Buddhist teachings entered the Indian game in a mythological form. All the material components of the game, according to Murray, for the creation of Chaturanga were known before its invention. Only the Buddhist interpretation of Chaturanga illuminates the hidden mechanism of the invention of the chess game.

            The Buddhist goal of the game is revealed in the book gradually and in parallel with the presentation of military interpretation. Figures of Chaturanga depicted the structure of the lower division of the Indian army patti. The new game concept does not reject the military idea, but shows it from the point of view of the Buddhist doctrine of the character of the monarch. The author gives a historical justification for the use of the classical chessboard (8x8), explains the trajectories of the moves of chess pieces.

            The external symbolism associated with the military theory of the game was adopted outside of India as a game model that does not require the explanation of Buddhist preachers and their participation. The chessboard as an external attribute of Chaturanga is a gambling device for the Manduka diagram (as a construction and astrological model), a Buddhist chart (as a model for memorizing and teaching Buddhist ideas). Ashtapada, which was called a single-colored board, has its own specific color. This is the color of the clothes of a Buddhist monk.

            Chaturanga is represented by a pair game with cubes for four players. The revolutionary use of dice is as follows: instead of determining the length of the impact, they began to determine the possibility of moving a figure with a given movement. With this invention, dice in the future have become an unnecessary attribute.  In the allegory of Buddhist Bhartrihari (VII century), dice play the role of time: "Time (Kala with Kali), throwing day and night, like two dice, plays with the living pieces on the playing board of the universe."