An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c11.s7.t1: 6.7.1 Dice
An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c11.s7.t1
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6.7.1 Dice
v1.c11.s7.t1.1
The earliest dice, made of bone and ivory, are reported from ALAMGIRPUR, DESALPAR, KALIBANGAN, LOTHAL and ROPAR—all Harappa sites [4.9]. They are long and square in section, one to six dots incised on the sides. From the early 1st millennium B.C. to the early centuries of the Christian era dice were prepared of stone, shell and terracotta in addition to bone and ivory. The predominant shapes are flat, rectangular or oblong, with the four sides incised with one to four dots running serially, each dot surrounded by one or more circles and bordered by straight lines. An early piece is one from the PGW levels of ALAMGIRPUR. Early historical dice (c. 600-300 B.C.) are reported from c. India and upper Deccan (ERAN, NASIK, UJJAIN), Ganga valley (CHIRAND, SONPUR) and the n.-w. (Taxila), made of bone or ivory.
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Cuboid dice are rare; made of terracotta, they are reported from the Kushan and later levels of KUMRAHAR, RANG MAHAL and SAMBHAR. They bear one to six marks arranged in such a manner that the sum of the points on each pair of the opposite faces is seven, similar to those known from Harappa sites. Some early medieval dice come from CHIRAND, PĀṬALIPUTRA, SHAMALAJI, etc.
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Model game-boards made on potsherds and brick have been identified at LOTHAL (Harappa). In the early historical period of NAGARJUNAKONDA there are game-boards from the Iksvāku levels (*c.* A.D. 250-400), incised on stone slabs consisting in one case of eight rows of eight squares in each row and in another in rows of two, three, five consisting of the same number of squares in each respective row.
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Dales, G. F., 1968, in *Jour. American Oriental Soc.*, 88, pp. 18-19. Krishnamurthy, K., 1961, in *Orissa Hist. Res. Jour.*, 10, pp. 1-4. Marshall, J., 1951 *Taxila*, Cambridge, 22, pp. 459-60, 662-3. For sites see respective entries in vol. II.—C. MARGABANDHU