hist-games: Indian War-games

[Mats Winther]

Evidently, Indian games were used in cultic practices. I've implemented
some of these games. Please have a look at my article:
http://hem.passagen.se/melki9/indian_wg.htm

Prof. Rangachar Vasantha (Sri Krishnadevaraya University, Anantapur)
has demonstrated that, in ancient India, boards and gaming pieces
were used as a means for consulting God. She has argued that games
cannot formally be distinguished from the temple or the magic circle.
Game diagrams were built into roofing slabs, and the floor of temples,
in ancient India. In the game, the devotee and the deity met.

Murray (A History of Board-Games, p.88) says that the board-game
Fanorona played an interesting part in the rituals in Madagascan
culture. At the storming of the capital by the French in 1895, the
Queen and people relied far more on the outcome of the official game
which was being played by the ritual professionals for victory, than
they did on their armed forces.

Mats