Snakes and Ladders

[Sriram]

Hi everyone,

The game 'Snakes and Ladders' is well known. Its origins are however not well known.

It was originally created in India as a method of teaching about life and its objective. It was called Moksha Padam or Salvation System. The snakes were the bad karma which  brought one backwards and the Ladders were the good karma that accelerated ones progress towards salvation.

It is a game that many people play even today, especially on days of religious significance, fasting and when we are expected to stay awake the whole night. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snakes_and_ladders

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Snakes and ladders, known originally as Moksha Patam, is an ancient Indian board game for two or more players regarded today as a worldwide classic.

The game is a simple race based on sheer luck, and it is popular with young children.[2] The historic version had its roots in morality lessons, on which a player's progression up the board represented a life journey complicated by virtues (ladders) and vices (snakes).

The ladders represented virtues such as generosity, faith, and humility, while the snakes represented vices such as lust, anger, murder, and theft. The morality lesson of the game was that a person can attain salvation (Moksha) through doing good, whereas by doing evil one will be reborn as lower forms of life. The number of ladders was less than the number of snakes as a reminder that a path of good is much more difficult to tread than a path of sins. Presumably, reaching the last square (number 100) represented the attainment of Moksha (spiritual liberation).

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Cheers.

Sriram

[Gordon]

I'm a fan, Sriram: two of my grandkids (ages 8 and 5) love to play S&L: but they cheat, which is probably why I rarely win.

[Anchorman]

Many board games were originally used for ritual or religious purposes.
The concept is ancient. There arer records od 'senet'; a game similar to chess in many ways, being played around 2000BC in Egypt, and examples of senet boards and pieces become increasingly common as tomb furniture in the New Kingdom.
Other games, one similar to snakes and ladders, though played on a spiral board, and 'dogs and jackals', a strategy game with throw sticks instead of dice to cast the number, are also well known.