Akhilesh Kumar Singh
[ 9 Mar, 2007 0143hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]

LUCKNOW: It's like a Taj-like glory for Uttar Pradesh. A group of German Indologists has claimed to have resolved the controversy over the origin of chess in favour of Kannauj, a township about 75 km from Kanpur in the state.

Different countries, at some point in time, have been associated with the game's invention including India, Chin Greece, Ireland and Uzbekistan.

Many countries claim to have invented chess in some incipient form. But the Indologists' group has almost come to the conclusion that chess originated in Kannauj when it was the capital of Maukhari kingdom in the 6th century.

The Maukhari ruler Sharva Varman had gifted the game of 'chaturanga' to his contemporary Persian ruler Khushrau-II in lieu of saltpetre (a variety of gunpowder).

"According to the research done by us so far, we have reached the conclusion that 'chaturanga' was the initial form of chess,"German researcher Manfred A J Eder told TOI.

Eder heads the group which in the past one week visited Allahabad, Varanasi, Kannauj, Kanpur and Lucknow, tracing the origin of chess.

Other members of the group are — chairman of Sacrmonte Institute for Public Policy Leander A Feiler, Munich University professor Habil Sayed Ranate and Robert S Dinsmore.

A recent book 'Kannauj, The Maukhari And Chaturanga — The origin of chess and its way from India to Persia,' authored by Ranate, laid the foundation for further research. The Maukhari rulers used to play 'chaturanga' with 16 cabinet terracotta before venturing into military campaigns, said Eder. Even Banbhatta in his 'Harshcharita' had mentioned a game called 'ashtapada' similar to chess, he added.

Historical accounts say during the later Gupta period there was an Indian army school where cadets were taught about warfare through terracotta pieces on 'ashtapada', which was again the game of chess in its primitive stage, said Eder.