Sir William Jones, Professor Wilson, a writer in Fraser's, and
Professor Duncan Forbes.




AS TO THE SUPPOSED ORIGIN OF CHESS

One of Sir William Jones' Brahman correspondents, Radha
Kant, informed him that it is stated in an old Hindoo law book,
that the wife of Ravan King of Lanka, the capital of Ceylon
invented chess to amuse him with an image of war, when his
metropolis was besieged by Rama in the second age of the world,
and this is the only tradition which takes precedence in date of
the Hindu Chaturanga.

The Princess Anna Comnena in the life of her father Alexius
Comnenus, Emperor of Constantinople who died A.D. 1118, informs
us that the game of chess which she calls Zatrikion was
introduced by the Arabians into Greece, The Arabians had it from
the Persians, who say that they themselves did not invent it, but
that they received it from the Indians, who brought it into
Persia in the time of the Great Chosroes, who reigned in Persia
48 years, and died A.D. 576, he was contemporary with the
Emperor Justinian who did A.D. 565.

Of all the claims which have been advanced to the invention
and origin of chess, that of the Hindu Game the Chaturanga is the
most ancient, and its accounts contain the earliest allusion worthy
of serious notice to anything partaking of the principles and form