Gyan Chaupar: The Game of Knowledge
Authored by The Academy · May 27, 2026
The syllabus
A syllabus for the Fellow who wishes to understand the Indian spiritual race game — from the Jain and Hindu manuscript traditions through the colonial appropriation to the contemporary revival. The reading moves from the indigenous scholarly context through the secularisation and back to what the original boards can still teach.
Reading order
Harish Johari, Destiny Books, 1975 (revised edition 1993)
Begin with Johari. His 1975 study is the first sustained modern attempt to restore the game's spiritual content for a contemporary audience. The square-by-square commentary maps each position to a state of consciousness within the Hindu philosophical framework.
Jacob Schmidt-Madsen, PhD dissertation, University of Copenhagen
Schmidt-Madsen for the scholarly depth. The 150 unpublished game charts from western India and the argument that the games evolved from tantric subtle-body drawings — the most comprehensive treatment of the game's indigenous context.
Andrew Topsfield, Artibus Asiae 46, no. 3, 1985, pp. 203–226
Topsfield for the colonial history. The sobering documentation of how the British stripped the game of its named virtues and vices, its theological framework, and its contemplative purpose, and sold the remainder as a children's toy.
- Is This a Snake or a Ladder?Article
Tom Greenwood, Substack, 2024
End with Greenwood for the contemporary reflection. A reminder that the game's moral architecture is not merely historical — it still has something to teach a player who approaches it with the attention it was designed to receive.
Discussion
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