War in Ancient India c7.t1.8

c7.t1.8

However this may be, we are here concerned with the question whether the fourfold force supplied the motive for the game or *vice versa*. It is to be noted that the relative values of the chess pieces were analogous to or identical with the relative values of different arms as laid down by Kauṭalya, Śukra, and Vaiśampāyana. This may mean that the values of different kinds of forces (made arbitrarily) were borrowed from chess. While mathematically the relative values of chess pieces can be worked out, there is less possibility of proving the relative values of different kinds of forces in war. We have to take it accordingly that the assumptions of Indian strategy were borrowed from chess, and not *vice versa*. We find that wherever chess has spread, its influence has led to the ascription of the same relative values to different types of military forces, e.g. in Persia and China. The organisation of the Indian army which came to be known as Caturanga, both in epic Sanskrit and Pāli literature, was based on the ancient game.