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A Note on Sufi Snakes and Ladders – CORRIGENDUM

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 November 2022

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Abstract

Keywords

Type
Corrigendum
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Royal Asiatic Society

The editor apologises for the omission of an Abstract and Keywords. These are given below:

Abstract

This article discusses a number of nineteenth century playing boards for the Sufi form of the traditional Indian board game of gyān caupar̩ (the Chaupar of Gnosis), from which modern Snakes and Ladders derives. Usually comprising 100 squares inscribed in Persian, the playing area conducts the players hazardously upward from lower spiritual states to the final goal of heaven, according to the throw of dice and sudden demotions or promotions through snakes or ladders. Most surviving examples are held in British collections, including that of the Royal Asiatic Society. Detailed attention is given to a unique, expanded version of the standard Sufi board which came to light a few years ago. Innovative and elaborate in its structure, method of play and nomenclature, it seems however to have been a late and short-lived experiment.

Keywords: gyan̄ caupar, snakes and ladders, sufism

References

Topsfield, Andrew, A Note on Sufi Snakes and Ladders. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. Published by Cambridge University Press, 6 September 2021. doi: 10.1017/S1356186321000547.Google Scholar