Life Lessons From Traditional Indian Games: Snakes and Ladders

Just Play! Life Lessons from Traditional Indian Games by Vinita Sidhartha is a book that takes you back in time through the fun and laughter of these games. Every game—from Panch Kone to Solah Seedi to Aadu Puli Aatam—represents or captures an aspect of life and the world. An Excerpt:

No book on traditional games would be complete without the game of Parama Padam Sopanam or Snakes and Ladders.
!is game has travelled to the West and come back to us in a simplified avatar; it has won the hearts of millions of children all over the world.

While most of us have grown up with the game and are familiar with the modern board that has 100 squares,
the traditional boards have varying grids with a varying number of squares. A version of the game played by Jains
even has grids that are not quite rectangular, but designed to represent the lok purusha or the cosmic man. The
positioning of snakes and ladders also varies from board to board, but almost each of them has one large snake that
takes you back to almost the very beginning or sometimes even the very first square. In fact, it is quite likely that the
English phrase ‘back to square one’ was coined from this very game.

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In the traditional game of Parama Padam Sopanam, traces of Indian philosophy, thinking and culture are explicitly found in almost every square of the board. The top of the board generally features the devas or gods, while the rest of the board used to be peppered with illustrations of birds, animals and people; and then, of course, there were the snakes and ladders. While ladders are an obvious symbol of upward movement, the use of snakes needs greater understanding. In Hindu philosophy, the symbolism of snakes is complex. Vishnu is usually pictured lying on Adishesha, the mighty serpent. Hindus worship snakes in temples as well as in their natural habitat, offering them milk, incense and prayers. Vasuki, the Serpent King, played a vital role in the churning of the ocean.

But coupled with this worship is a deep fear of the snake. With India being home to four of the most poisonous snakes in the world, Indian people respect snakes. It is perhaps this aspect of the snake, the fact that it can bring a human being down by just a bite, that has made it the central symbol of this game. Metaphorically, the snakes represent vices.

Game pieces typically start from the square numbered one and move through each square on the board, based on the throw of the dice. !e movement of the game pieces has been described as a boustrophedon (ox-plough) track. The word ‘boustrophedon’ is a style of writing in which the starting point of alternate lines of script is reversed. This contrasts with our standard styles of writing in which lines always begin on the same side, usually the left, in most languages. !e term comes from ancient Greek meaning ‘as an ox turns while ploughing’.

If the throw of the dice takes a game piece to the base of a ladder, then the player climbs up. However, if it takes the game piece to the head of the snake, the player moves down. The player who reaches the last square first is the winner. It is a simple race game based on sheer luck and so cannot produce experiences that can be extrapolated to real-life situations.

The essence of the game comes from elsewhere. In this game, every snake is named after Indian mythological characters whose vices or flaws ultimately led to their destruction. The ladders, on the other hand, represent virtues or the path of dharma that will take you through life and enable you to reach the highest place or moksha.

Different boards have different names for the snakes. However, I have come across some obscure boards, the names of which are not familiar. Could they perhaps be names of characters from local communities representing vices? While we will never be sure, this is possible, as numerous local versions of games existed at the time. Since they were printed on paper, many have disappeared completely.

The basic essence of the game is clear. The player acquires virtues and moves up through life to reach parama padam or moksha. If the player acquires vices, he plunges downward pushing moksha further and further away.

However, there is more to the game than just that. To understand this, we need to understand some basic aspects of Hindu philosophy. In Hinduism, the concept of purusartha or the object of human pursuit refers to the four aims of human life—dharma, artha, kama and moksha (righteousness, prosperity, pleasure and liberation).

While all of them are considered important, dharma gets precedence and directly leads to moksha. It is interesting to note the sheer practicality of Hindu philosophy: it gives space to both prosperity and pleasure, which form a large part of our life. Rather than frowning upon this, it accepts the two, rooting them all in dharma. I am no expert, but I found this truly fascinating. Perhaps this is why our festivals, too, are a fusion of rituals and merrymaking.

Excerpted with permission from  Just Play by Vinita Sidhartha published by Rupa Books.

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