The Game of Karma (Fate) and Kama (Desire): A Brief History of Snakes & Ladders Board Game
The board game Snakes and Ladders, also known as Moksha Patam or Gyan Chaupar, originated in ancient India. With the first batch of colonial officials returning from India, it arrived in the United Kingdom in the 1890s.
It was associated with classical Hindu philosophy, which differentiated between karma and kama, which can be translated as fate and desire. The old Moksha Patam had dual purposes, serving both the spiritual and educational needs of its users. Moksha, also known as liberation from the endless cycle of rebirth and death, was represented by the game’s last square.
The moral of the game was that by doing good, one can achieve liberation (Moksha), while by doing evil, one is reincarnated as a lower form of life. The number of ladders was less than the number of snakes, reminding us that a path of good is more difficult than a path of sin.
In Telugu, this game is popularly called Vaikunthapali or Paramapada Sopana Patam (the ladder to salvation). In Tamil Nadu, the game is called Parama Padam and is often played by devotees of Bhagwan Vishnu during the Vaikuntha Ekadashi festival.
Moksha Patam boards can be found in the collections of the National Museum in New Delhi, the Rajasthan Oriental Research Institute in Jodhpur, the Calico Museum of Textiles in Ahmedabad, and the British Library in London, United Kingdom.
