are not our equals in wisdom; and consequently, you will have no right any longer to exact from us either tribute or impost. On the contrary we shall feel ourselves justified in demanding hereafter the same tribute from you; for man's true greatness consists in wisdom, not in territory, and troops, and riches, all of which are liable to decay.' "When Naushirawan had perused the letter from the Sovereign of Hind, long did he ponder over its contents. Then he carefully examined the Chessboard and the pieces, and asked a few questions of the Envoy respecting their nature and use. The latter, in general terms, replied,'Sire, what you wish to know can be learned only by playing the game; suffice it for me to say, that the board represents a battle-field, and the pieces the different species of forces engaged in the combat.' Then the King said to the Envoy, Grant us the space of seven days for the purpose of deliberation; on the eighth day we engage to play with you the game, or acknowledge our inferiority.' Here the Indian Ambassador made his obeisance, and withdrew to the apartments provided for himself and suite. "In the meanwhile the Persian King commanded the attendance of all the learned and intelligent men of his Court. He placed before them the chessboard and the pieces, and explained to them the purport of the letter brought to him from the Sovereign of Hind. Then the sages of Iran, each according to his abilities, betook themselves to discover the mystery of this seemingly insoluble enigma. One man suggested one thing, and another something different. They made numberless experiments with the chessmen, and moved them about in all directions on the board. Every man asked questions which no one could answer; and thus they persevered till the seven days were nearly elapsed. At length, Buzurjmihr, the King's chief counsellor, who had hitherto stood aloof, stepped forward, and said, 'O King, I will undertake, in the space of a night and a day, to discover the hidden secret of this rare and wonderful game.' The King, rejoicing, replied, 'Let this task be thine, for well do I know that thou excellest all men in brightness of understanding and acuteness of judgment. The King of Kanoj boastfully implies that we have not in our dominions men who are capable of unfolding the mystery of this marvellous game. To be compelled, as it were, to acknowledge our inferiority, would leave an everlasting stain on the learned and the wise of Iran.' "Then Buzurjmihr had the chessboard and pieces conveyed into a private chamber; and there he sat for the space of a day and a night, applying the irresistible powers of his penetrating intellect to the investigation of the principles and practice of the game. He examined with care the probable bearing of each piece, till at length the full light burst upon him. Then he hastened from his solitary chamber to the presence of Naushirawan, and thus spoke, 'O King of victorious destiny, I have carefully examined this board, and these pieces, and at length by your Majesty's good fortune, I have succeeded in discovering the nature of the game. It is a most shrewd 1 1 I am afraid that all those who know something of the game of Chess will be inclined to smile at the poet's assertion respecting the penetration and wisdom of Buzurjmihr. Yet it is not quite so absurd as Sir William Jones's idea, "that some great genius conceived in his mind the construction of the board, and the various moves and powers of the pieces, and the whole conduct of the game from beginning to end, all by the first intention.' One of our late Chess celebrities-undoubtedly the first of his time-M. Deschapelles, appears by his own assertion, to have very nearly equalled the Persian sage in precocity. A very amusing account of the eminent French player's débût in Chess is given in the Chess Player's Chronicle, 1848, p. 87, translated from the "Palamède.” For my own part I am no main believer in the marvellous ; and and faithful representation of a battle-field, which it is proper that your Majesty should inspect in the first place. In the mean time let the Indian Ambassador be summoned into the Royal presence, together with the more distinguished among his retinue, also a few of the wise and learned of our own Court, that they may all bear witness how we have acquitted ourselves in accomplishing the task imposed upon us by the King of Kanoj." “Kisrā Naushirawan was delighted to hear the words of his wise and enlightened Minister. He embraced him as his friend, the ornament of his realm, and the brightest gem of his Court. Then he sent a deputation of the wise, the virtuous, the noble and the brave, to conduct into his presence the Envoy from the Sovereign of Hind. When the latter arrived, Buzurjmihr requested of him to declare in public the message entrusted to him by his own Sovereign. Here the Ambassador repeated in detail the purport of the letter addressed to Naushirawan. When he had done speaking, Buzurjmihr placed the chessboard and the pieces before the King and the learned of the Court then present, and thus addressed them :'You have all heard the words of the Ambassador from the King of Kanoj, now pay attention to what I am going to explain to you.' Here the sage counsellor pointed out to them how the board of sixty-four squares represented a battle-field, and thus he proceeded to draw up in battle array the ebony and ivory forces." I would, with due submission, just hint as a probability, that an able diplomatist -such as the Persian counsellor must have been-might have come to a satisfactory understanding with the Indian Envoy on this intricate affair, while the men of wisdom were elsewhere puzzling their brains in vainly trying to solve the enigma. Deschapelles says of himself, "Three sittings were all that I required to learn the march of the game, to defend myself, and then beat the strongest players!" It is said that Deschapelles persisted in this assertion so perseveringly that he at last believed it to be true. Arrangement of the Pieces. "The King occupied the centre of the line in the rear; and by his side stood an intelligent Counsellor, ready to guide him in the path of victory, and to defend him in the midst of the combat. Next to the King and Counsellor stood the furious Elephants, impatient to rush forward into the deadly strife. Next in order stood the War Steeds, ready to spring forth to the aid and rescue of the King. On either flank stood the irresistible Rukhs,1 the chosen champions and guardians of the King and the army. In front of these stood the Foot Soldiers, whose task it was to open the combat, at the command of their King." Moves of the Pieces.2 "The King moved one square in all directions. The Counsellor moved one square diagonally around his It would be out of place here to trace the various transformations of the Sanskrit "Roka" into the Persian "Rukh," then into the Arabic "Rukhkh," thence into the "Bifrons Rochus" of the medieval Latin writers, down to our own "Rook," i.e., "cornix frugivora," as Hyde hath it. Suffice it to say, that the meaning attached to the word by Firdausī is evidently that of "Champion," Warrior," par excellence, and in more places than one he uses, instead of Rukh," what he seems to consider a synonymous term, viz., "mubariz," a "hero." He describes him mounted on horseback, as in the following couplet"Mubariz ki asp afganad bar do rū, or Ba dasti chap o rast, parkhāsh-jū." "A warrior who urged on his steed in both directions, Of course the "Champion" would differ in armour, equipment, and appearance from the Knight. It is a curious fact that the Russians to this day call this piece by the same name that it originally had in Sanskrit, viz., "Lodia," or "Lodya" (a "ship" or "boat"); a circumstance which would lead us to infer that the game reached them from India, direct through Turan or Tartary, and not by way of Persia and Arabia, as in the case of the other European nations. See further on, Chapter XIV. 2 I have already mentioned (page 41, note), how impossible it was for me sovereign. The Elephant, with head reared aloft, moved three squares diagonally, but attacked only the last of when writing to a popular periodical such as the "Illustrated London News," to clog the subject with notes and explanations. Soon after this Chapter appeared in print the following query was addressed to me through the same channel by Alpha— CHESS QUERY. "A point of the greatest interest in the history of Chess is the description given by Firdausi in the Shāhnāma of the position and moves of the pieces when the game was first introduced into Persia. I should, therefore, be extremely glad to know from what manuscripts (their date, &c.) Dr. Forbes derived his translation describing the ": moves of the pieces," in Chapter vi. of his 'Observations.' He informs us that he has chiefly followed the MSS. Add. 18,188 (written A.D. 1486) and 7724 (written A.D. 1621), preserved in the British Museum ; but I am assured by a competent authority, that this account of the moves does not occur in either of the above MSS.; nay, more, that it is not to be found in any of the copies of the Shāhnāma' in the British Museum (including a copy of great antiquity recently acquired, written A.H. 675 A.D. 1276); nor is it even in the text of Firdausi,' published at Calcutta in 1829, by Macan. It is true, however, that Hyde (Hist. Shahlud.' p. 63) quotes some lines from a copy of the 'Shāhnāma,' in which the moves are noticed; but this text does not agree with the version given us by Dr. Forbes; and the MS. from which it was taken can scarcely be relied on, since it contains some interpolated lines, in which two Camels are added to the other pieces on the board.”—ALPHA. The reader may easily conceive that this pithy communication gave me some temporary annoyance, that is, an annoyance of a week's duration, till the next day of publication, on which I sent the following reply :-" My answer to Alpha is that the MSS. from which I made (not derived) my translation, "describing the moves of the pieces" are precisely those I mentioned, viz., No. 18,188 and No. 7724, preserved in the British Museum. At the same time I briefly consulted some nine or ten other MSS. of the Shāhnāma in the British Museum, as well as Macan's printed edition; yea, more, I consulted the so-called 'copy of great antiquity' alluded to by Alpha,' [before it came to the Museum. Well, in all of these, with I believe only one exception, the account of the moves does occur exactly as I have given them; always excepting, or rather excluding, a couplet about the two camels—which I agree with 'Alpha' in viewing it as an interpolation. Now we join issue, as the lawyers say. Alpha denies the existence of 'the account of the moves,' in every copy of the Shāhnāma in the Museum, as well as in Macan's printed edition. I, on the other hand, pledge my truth and honour that 'the account of the moves' DOES OCCUR (with, at most, one exception) in every one of the manuscripts of the Shāhnāma in the Museum, as well as in Macan's printed edition; and I am quite ready to point out the passage in all of them to any gentleman and scholar who may have the least doubt on the matter. 58, Burton-crescent, 19th Nov., 1855. DUNCAN FORBES. |