Editing Snakes and ladders (section)

==History==
Snakes and ladders originated as part of a family of Indian dice board games that included ''[[gyan chauper]]'' and [[pachisi]] (known in English as [[Ludo (board game)|Ludo]] and ''[[Parcheesi]]''). It made its way to England and was sold as "Snakes and Ladders",<ref>{{cite web|last1=Coopee|first1=Todd|title=Chutes and Ladders from Milton Bradley (1943)|url=https://toytales.ca/chutes-ladders-milton-bradley-1943/|website=ToyTales.ca|date=2 December 2019 }}</ref> then the basic concept was introduced in the United States as ''Chutes and Ladders''.<ref name=Augustyn/>

[[File:Gyan chaupar.JPG|thumb|''Gyan chaupar'' ([[Jainism|Jain]] version of the game), [[National Museum, New Delhi]]]]
The game was popular in ancient India by the name ''Moksha Patam''. It was also associated with traditional [[Hindu philosophy]] contrasting ''karma'' and ''kama'', or destiny and desire. It emphasized destiny, as opposed to games such as pachisi, which focused on life as a mixture of skill (free will)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://devdutt.com/articles/indian-mythology/playing-with-fate-and-free-will.html |title=Playing with fate and free will |publisher=Devdutt Pattanaik |date=17 September 2007}}</ref> and luck. The underlying ideals of the game inspired a version introduced in [[Victorian England]] in 1892. The game has also been interpreted and used as a tool for teaching the effects of good deeds versus bad. The board was covered with symbolic images used in ancient India, the top featuring gods, angels, and majestic beings, while the rest of the board was covered with pictures of animals, flowers and people.<ref name="BBB">{{cite book |last=Bell |first=R.C. |author-link=Robert Charles Bell |title=The Boardgame Book |publisher=Exeter Books |year=1983 |chapter=Snakes and Ladders |pages=134–135 |isbn=0-671-06030-9}}</ref> 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 liberation ([[Moksha]]) through doing good, whereas by doing evil one will [[Reincarnation|be reborn]] as lower forms of life. The number of ladders was fewer 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).{{cn|date=October 2024}}

''Gyan chauper'', or ''jnan chauper'', (game of wisdom), the version associated with the [[Jain philosophy]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bornet |first1=Philippe |last2=Burger |first2=Maya |title=Religions in Play: Games, Rituals, and Virtual Worlds |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t3X18dopUoMC |publisher=Theologischer Verlag Zürich |date=2012 |page=94 |isbn=9783290220105}}</ref> encompassed the concepts like ''[[Karma in Jainism|karma]]'' and ''[[Moksha (Jainism)|Moksha]]''. A version popular in the [[Muslim]] world is known as ''shatranj al-'urafa'' and exists in various versions in [[India]], [[Iran]], and [[Turkey]]. In this version, based on [[sufi]] philosophy, the game represents the [[dervish]]'s quest to leave behind the trappings of worldly life and achieve union with God.<ref name="schick">Schick, Irvin Cemil. "Chess of the Gnostics: The Sufi Version of Snakes and Ladders in Turkey and India." In ''Games and Visual Culture in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance'', Vanina Kopp and Elizabeth Lapina, eds. (Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2020), 173–216.</ref>

[[File:Berrington Hall - snakes and ladders (13826426425).jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.3|Snakes and Ladders from Victorian England, c. 1900, with ladders appearing in squares of good deeds, such as Thrift, Penitence and Industry, and snakes appearing in squares of bad deeds, such as Dishonesty, Cruelty and Indolence]]
When the game was brought to England, the Indian virtues and vices were replaced by English ones in hopes of better reflecting Victorian doctrines of morality. Squares of Fulfilment, Grace and Success were accessible by ladders of Thrift, Penitence and Industry and snakes of Indulgence, Disobedience and Indolence caused one to end up in Illness, Disgrace and Poverty. While the Indian version of the game had snakes outnumbering ladders, the English counterpart was more forgiving as it contained equal numbers of each.<ref name="changes">Masters, James. "Moksha-Patamu (Snakes and Ladders)." The Online Guide to Traditional Games. N.p., n.d. Web.</ref>

The association of Britain's snakes and ladders with India and ''gyan chauper'' began with the returning of colonial families from [[British Raj|India during the British Raj]]. The décor and art of the early English boards of the 20th century reflect this relationship. By the 1940s very few pictorial references to Indian culture remained, due to the economic demands of the war and the collapse of British rule in India.<ref name="topsfield"/> Although the game's sense of morality has lasted through the game's generations, the physical allusions to religious and philosophical thought in the game as presented in Indian models appear to have all but faded. There has even been evidence of a possible Buddhist version of the game existing in India during the Pala-Sena time period.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

In [[Andhra Pradesh]], this game is popularly called '''{{transliteration|te|ISO|Vaikunṭhapāḷi}}''' or ''{{transliteration|te|ISO|Paramapada Sopāna Paṭamu}}'' (the ladder to salvation) in Telugu.<ref name=Augustyn>Augustyn (2004), pp. 27–28</ref><ref name="topsfield">{{cite book |last=Topsfield |first=Andrew |title=The art of play. Board and card games of India |publisher=Marg Publications |year=2006 |isbn=9788185026763}}</ref> In Hindi, this game is called ''Saanp aur Seedhi'', ''Saanp Seedhi'' and ''Mokshapat''. In [[Tamil Nadu]] the game is called ''Parama padam'' and is often played by devotees of [[Hindu]] god [[Vishnu]] during the [[Vaikuntha Ekadashi]] festival in order to stay awake during the night. In Bengali-speaking regions, [[West Bengal]] in India and [[Bangladesh]], it is known as ''Shap Shiri'' or ''Shapludu'' respectively.<ref>{{cite web|author=Alimuzzaman|script-title=bn:সাপলুডুর মক্সা বোর্ড|trans-title=Moksha board of Shapludu|website=Kishore Alo|url=https://www.kishoralo.com/feature/%E0%A6%B8%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%AA%E0%A6%B2%E0%A7%81%E0%A6%A1%E0%A7%81%E0%A6%B0-%E0%A6%AE%E0%A6%95%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%B8%E0%A6%BE-%E0%A6%AC%E0%A7%8B%E0%A6%B0%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%A1|date=6 May 2020|access-date=9 June 2021}}</ref>

In the original game the squares of virtue are: ''Faith'' (12), ''Reliability'' (51), ''Generosity'' (57), ''Knowledge'' (76), and ''Asceticism'' (78). The squares of vice or evil are: ''Disobedience'' (41), ''Vanity'' (44), ''Vulgarity'' (49), ''Theft'' (52), ''Lying'' (58), ''Drunkenness'' (62), ''Debt'' (69), ''Murder'' (73), ''Rage'' (84), ''Greed'' (92), ''Pride'' (95), and ''Lust'' (99).<ref name="BBB" />