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Shall we play a game of snakes and ladders?


I am sure many of us would have played the game of Snakes and Ladders while growing up. It is a multiplayer game where each player takes turns and throws in the dice and moves the number of squares as indicated on the face of the dice. The first player to reach the finish line wins and the last one to have been left behind is the loser. When I was a kid, the fun was not just the winning  but also  watching how many times and when a player gets bitten by the snake. Though we all played to get the ladder for the easy escape, we knew that getting bitten is inevitable as well. 

This is an ancient Indian game which was brought to UK in late 1800s from where it got its world wide acceptance and variations!

In one of the Ancient Indian variation, the game had the ladders displaying the virtues that one must aspire to lead a righteous life - Generosity, Faith, Reliability,  Humility, Knowledge  and Asceticism. While the snakes represented the vicious vices that are always ready to cloud one's mind and bring them down - Disobedience, Vanity, Vulgarity, Lying, Rage, Greed, Pride, Lust, Anger, Murder and Theft. In this game of morality, it was expected that one attains Moksha - the final goal of the game when one defeats or refrains themselves of being bitten by the vices. Having the morality ladders shall help you attain moksha aster, but the key is not to be falling for the vices. 

Another similar version of this this game was popular in the Muslim world was based on the Sufi philosophy representing the dervish's quest to leave behind the trappings of the worldly life and achieve union with God. 

When this game reached UK, it was slightly modified to resemble the virtues and vices prevelant in those days to boost morality amongst people.

Even today, this game is very popular in various parts of India. In TamilNadu, this game is often played by the Vishnu devotees during the Vaikuntha Ekadashi to stay awake through the night. 

While growing up, my mother taught me the concepts of dharma, adharma and karma. My childlike mind  understood the concepts of abiding by the dharma or else the evil adharma will come like a serpent to bit me. Probably I learnt everything through the method of fear. Instilling fear of the punishment, bound me to the path of the dharma. Whose dharma? Which dharma? Who knows!

Recently, I learned an other ancient variation of the "Snakes and Ladders" game, that comes from the Jain philosophy. In their version, they call the snakes as "Paap" (Similar to the versions described above), and also the debt you incur during your life, while, the ladders resemble the scenarios when you gave debt to others. The goal is to reach the finish line debt free. As debt of any form would force you to take a rebirth and repay it in your next birth. 

Interesting, isn't it?

Stay tuned for my next post on similar thought process.

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