How to Play Chaturanga

By Jaques of London · Est. 1795 · Updated 2026-08-17

Chaturanga is a strategy board game played on an 8x8 square grid, widely regarded as one of the earliest ancestors of chess. It accommodates two or four players and involves moving four distinct piece types, infantry, cavalry, elephants and chariots, each with its own movement rule, in an attempt to capture the opposing king.

Players love it for the depth of decision-making it demands even in the opening moves, and for the way alliance dynamics in the four-player version create a layer of negotiation absent from most abstract games. It is typically played on a standard chessboard, making it accessible without specialist equipment.

A little history

Chaturanga is traditionally held to have originated in the Indian subcontinent, with references appearing in Sanskrit texts that scholars date broadly to the 6th or 7th century CE, though the precise origins are unclear and remain a subject of academic debate. The name derives from a Sanskrit term for the four divisions of an ancient Indian army: infantry, cavalry, elephants and chariots. From the Indian subcontinent the game is documented as having spread westward into Persia, where it became Shatranj, and subsequently into the Islamic world and Europe, eventually developing into modern chess.

Setting up

1. Place the board between the players so each corner is associated with one player.
2. In the four-player game, each player takes one set of 8 pieces: 1 king (raja), 1 chariot (ratha), 1 elephant (gaja), 1 horse (ashva) and 4 infantry (padati).
3. In the two-player game, one player controls two sets (typically opposite corners) and the other player controls the remaining two sets.
4. Each player places their pieces in their assigned corner: infantry occupy the four squares immediately adjacent to the corner along the board edges, and the king, chariot, elephant and horse occupy the corner square and the three squares beside it along the back rank.
5. Agree before the game begins whether you are playing the dice variant (where a die roll determines which piece must move) or the pure strategy variant (where players choose freely). The pure strategy variant is standard for competitive play.
6. Determine the first player by agreement or by each rolling a die, with the highest roll going first. Play proceeds clockwise.

How to play

1. Players take turns in clockwise order. On your turn you must move exactly one of your pieces to a legal destination square.
2. Infantry (padati) move one square forward only. They capture one square diagonally forward, exactly as a pawn captures in chess.
3. The horse (ashva) moves in an L-shape: two squares in one direction then one square perpendicular, jumping over any intervening pieces. This is identical to a knight's move in chess.
4. The elephant (gaja) moves exactly two squares diagonally in any direction and may jump over the intervening square. It can only ever reach squares of the same colour it started on.
5. The chariot (ratha) moves any number of squares horizontally or vertically, exactly as a rook moves in chess. It may not jump over other pieces.
6. The king (raja) moves one square in any direction, horizontally, vertically or diagonally.
7. A piece captures an opposing piece by moving onto the square it occupies. The captured piece is removed from the board.
8. You may not capture a piece belonging to your ally in the four-player game.
9. In the four-player game, players traditionally form two alliances: the player on the north pairs with the player on the south, and the player on the east pairs with the player on the west. Alliances should be agreed explicitly at the start of play.
10. If the dice variant is in use, roll the die at the start of your turn. The result determines which piece type you must move: traditionally 5 = king or elephant, 4 = horse, 3 = chariot, 2 = infantry. If no legal move exists for that piece type, your turn passes.
11. There is no check or checkmate mechanism in classical Chaturanga as documented. The king is captured outright when an opponent's piece moves onto its square.
12. A player whose king is captured is eliminated and their remaining pieces are removed from the board.
13. In the four-player alliance game, a team loses when both of its kings have been captured.

Winning and scoring

In the two-player game, you win by capturing your opponent's king. In the four-player alliance game, the winning team is the one that captures both enemy kings. There is no standard points scoring system in classical Chaturanga; the outcome is simply victory or defeat. If playing a series of games, the first team or player to win an agreed number of games wins the match.

The fine points

The most common dispute concerns the elephant's move. The elephant moves exactly two squares diagonally and jumps, meaning it cannot stop on the intervening square. A player must always move two squares diagonally with this piece; stopping short is not legal. Because the elephant can only reach half the squares on the board, endgames with two elephants of the same colour and no other pieces are drawn by impossibility of capture, and players should recognise this before spending time pursuing it.

In the four-player dice variant, the question of what happens when no legal move exists for the rolled piece type should be settled before play begins. The most widely cited ruling is that if no legal move is available for the indicated piece, the turn is forfeited entirely and the player does not move at all. Passing voluntarily is not permitted in any variant. In alliance play, players may not deliberately leave their own king in a position where an opponent can capture it on the very next move, though since there is no formal check announcement, it is each player's own responsibility to see the threat.

How to win more often

• Control the centre early. Chariots in particular become much more powerful when open files and ranks run through the middle of the board.
• In the four-player game, coordinate with your ally explicitly. Decide early whether one of you will press the attack while the other defends, rather than both advancing independently and leaving your kings exposed.
• Protect your king by surrounding it with infantry in the early game. Because the king can only move one square at a time, it is very difficult to escape an attack once enemy pieces are nearby.
• Use the horse aggressively. Its ability to jump makes it effective even in congested positions, and it threatens squares in a pattern that is easy for less experienced opponents to miss.
• Be cautious about advancing infantry. Unlike in chess, there is no promotion rule in classical Chaturanga, so an infantry piece that reaches the far side of the board gains nothing. Advance pawns only when they help control space or support a piece, not as an end in themselves.
• In the dice variant, keep all piece types available for movement wherever possible. If all your infantry are blocked and you roll a 2, you lose your turn entirely.

Variations

Two-player Chaturanga

Each player controls two corners of the board and commands all four piece types from both sets. The board is divided diagonally rather than by sides, with one player taking the north-east and south-west corners and the other taking the north-west and south-east corners. Victory goes to the player who captures both opposing kings.

Dice Chaturanga (Ashtapada variant)

A die is rolled at the start of each turn and determines which piece type the active player must move that turn. This variant introduces a chance element that is documented in some historical descriptions of the game and is sometimes considered the older form of play. Agreed house rules for forfeited turns when no legal move is available are essential before starting.

Chaturanga with promotion

Some groups adopt a house rule, borrowed by analogy from chess, in which an infantry piece that reaches the far rank of the opponent who originally occupied that corner may be promoted to any other piece type. This rule is not attested in classical sources but is a reasonable addition for players who find the infantry too limited in value.

Checkmate variant

Players who find outright king capture abrupt sometimes agree to play with a chess-style check announcement, making it illegal to leave your own king in a threatened square. Under this rule, a player who has no legal move to remove the threat loses immediately rather than waiting for the king to be taken. This brings the game closer to modern chess and softens the sometimes sudden endings of the classical version.

Chaturanga: frequently asked questions