Yudhishthira replied, "Ye sons of the Kuru race, ye bulls among men, hear what I shall do on appearing before king Virata. Presenting myself as a Brahmana, Kanka by name, skilled in dice and fond of play, I shall become a courtier of that high-souled king. And moving upon chess-boards beautiful pawns made of ivory, of blue and yellow and red and white hue, by throws of black and red dice, I shall entertain the king with his courtiers and friends. And while I shall continue to thus delight the king, nobody will succeed in discovering me. And should the monarch ask me, I shall say, 'Formerly I was the bosom friend of Yudhishthira.' I tell you that it is thus that I shall pass my days (in the city of Virata). What office wilt thou, O Vrikodara, fill in the city of Virata?"It seems obvious that the game being described was some form of Shaturanga. The Wikipedia article on the Mahabharata avers that the epic "probably reached its final form by the early Gupta period (c. 4th century CE)." This would imply that Shaturanga was being played as many as 200 or 300 years prior to the first historical references to Shatranj.- Kisara Mohan Ganguli. 1896. The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (English translation). Book 4, Section 1.
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