The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c17.70

v1.c17.70

Of the amusements of the Indian first place must clearly be given to the chariot race, a natural form of sport among a horse-loving and chivalrous people. The second belongs to dicing, which forms the occasion of a lament, already referred to (*v. sup.* p. 98). Unhappily, the details of the play are nowhere described, and the scattered allusions cannot be reduced to a whole without much conjecture; but, in one form at least, the aim of the gambler was to throw a number which should be a multiple of four¹. Dancing was also practised, and the dancing of maidens is several times mentioned; it seems that men also on occasion danced in the open air, as a metaphor alludes to the dust of the dancing feet of men. Music too had advanced beyond the primitive stage; and already the three types of instrument, percussion, string, and wind, were represented by the drum, used, among other purposes, to terrify the foe in battle, the lute, and the flute, the last-named instrument being said to be heard in the abode of Yama, where the holy dead dwell. The hymns themselves prove that singing was highly esteemed.