How many of us know that the game of “Snakes and Ladders” was the brainchild of Sant Dnyaneshwar, the 13th Century Marathi saint ?
He created the game called Moksha Patam or Parama Padam to teach Hindu values to children. The British renamed it as Snakes and Ladders.
The ladders represented virtues and snakes vices. In the original game, square 12 was Faith, 51 was Reliability, 57 was Generosity, 76 was Knowledge, and 78 was Asceticism. These were the squares where the ladder was placed.
Square 41 was for Disobedience, 44 for Arrogance, 49 for Vulgarity, 52 for Theft, 58 for Lying, 62 for Drunkenness, 69 for Debt, 84 for Anger, 92 for Greed, 95 for Pride, 73 for Murder and 99 for Lust. These were the squares were the snake was placed.
The Square 100 represented Nirvana or Moksha. The top of each ladder depicted a God or one of the various heavens (kailasa, vaikuntha, brahmaloka) and so on.
As the game progressed various actions were supposed to take you up and down the board as in life…
The British took the game to England in 1892 and named it Snakes and Ladders and changed it according to Victorian values.
