Chess has had a long and colorful history since its beginnings in the 6th century. And ever since the creation of the game the board and game pieces have been a continuous source of inspiration for artists who year after year create new interpretations. Here is a look at chess’s place in history and culture along with some historically and artistically important sets.
History
Early
Chess originated in India during the Gupta empire, where its early form in the 6th century was known as caturaṅga, which translates as “four divisions [of the military]” – infantry, cavalry, elephants, and chariotry, represented by the pieces that would evolve into the modern pawn, knight, bishop, and rook, respectively. Both the Persians and Arabs attribute the game of chess to the Indians. In Sassanid Persia around 600 the name became shatranj and the rules were developed further. Shatranj was taken up by the Muslim world after the Islamic conquest of Persia, with the pieces largely retaining their Persian names. In Spanish “shatranj” was rendered as ajedrez, in Portuguese as xadrez, and in Greek as zatrikion, but in the rest of Europe it was replaced by versions of the Persian shāh (“king”), which was familiar as an exclamation and became our words “check and chess”. Murray theorized that this change happened from Muslim traders coming to European seaports with ornamental chess kings as curios before they brought the game of chess.
Here is the full article with many pictures.
The artistry of Chess sets is remarkable. I have lost some pieces to a fantastic acrylic chess set that I bought in the late 70s. If I sent a photo would you post as a sort of lost an found?
Do u also know, many other things originated in India. Many English words come from sanskrit. From mathru to mother, brathru to brother, trichonomethry to trigonometry. I heard from a holy man in India, that trigonometry, algebra etc existed much before they were discovered by European scientists. And Buddha , discovered the way to attain perfection. He discovered that body was made up of small particles( atoms) and he gave the exact size of it..which matches with current discovery by our scientists.
Also , the so called rocket technology originated in India in Mysore, when a great king named Tipu sultan (a muslim) who used to have hindu and other religion members in his ministry came up with the idea for fighting Britishers.
Thr is lot more i guess, but my knowledge is limited.