Cobras and ladders ...game that was all the rage in the Raj
WITH its exotic animals and Hindu gods it could easily be mistaken for a religious painting. But this is an exquisite example of Indian snakes and ladders.
Produced in 1800, the board game is now set to delight art lovers after it was converted into a high quality computer image and uploaded to an online library.
Mounted on cloth and finely drawn by an artist from the western state of Maharashtra, the board was divided into 124 numbered squares. In this version of the well-known game, players embarked on a religious quest with the first squares representing ‘the hells’ and the top of the board representing ‘supreme Brahman’ status – pure being.
Snakes and ladders originated in India in the 13th century and became popular with British families at the time of the Raj. They later brought the game home and a British version was developed in 1892. In the anglicised version, the Indian religious symbols were replaced by representations of Victorian values such as thrift, penitence and industry.
By the 1940s, references to India had been dropped altogether and the game began to take on the appearance we are familiar with today.
This Indian board is one of two held by The Royal Asiatic Society in London. Donated to the society in 1831, it has until recently only been on display in its reading rooms.
But now a wider audience can enjoy the game after it was uploaded to the society’s online library. This was funded by a grant from Friends of the National Libraries.