Learned about the origin story of Snakes and Ladders randomly and was amazed at how long it is possible to remain ignorant. Such a clever way to impart moral instruction to children - something I could have greatly benefitted from as a mother when I was raising J.
The snakes and ladders in gyan chaupar function as karmic devices, either thwarting or aiding a player’s efforts to reach moksha. To emphasise this, the squares from which the tokens either ascend or descend were labelled with names of various virtues or flaws. The positive attributes listed were dependability, asceticism, faithfulness, generosity and knowledge, while the negative attributes and crimes included rebelliousness, vanity, crudeness, theft, lust, debt and violence
It was interesting to see the modern take on the game aimed at teaching kids. This is a more secular spin on the original intent, informed by the concerns and moral dilemmas of our time.
Ancient Living snakes & ladders board game is handcrafted and beholds a different take altogether, which is in sync with the aspects affecting environment. While ladders come with positive messages like organic farming, rainwater harvesting, use solar power, reuse & recycle and use paper wisely, factors which degrade the environment like cutting down forests, melting of glaciers, using plastics and oil spills portray the negative impacts are associated with snakes that bring you down and make you lose position.
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