Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1858-1860, 1859-02-11

origin of Chess.

The following tradition will be interesting
to many Of our readers just at this time:
About the commencement of the fifth CEN
fury of the Christian era, the sovereignty Of
large kingdom, near the mouth the Ganges,
devolved upon very young monarch. -Ex-
perience had not yet taught him that he
should consider his subjects as children, and
that their love was the only solid prop of the
State. 1t was in vain that those important
truths were held mp TO his view by The sage
Brahmins and his Rajahs. Elated with power
and grandeur he swayed the land with I'M
natural severity.
Sissa, the son of Dahur. the most venerable
of the Brahmins, on'whom the splendCr of
philosophy and wisdom shone from his in
fancy to his 10th wear. that there were
virtues in this Monarch which qnire only
the culture of reason to bring them into life;
and afflicted at the miseries of his country
he undertook to display to the Monarch the
cause Of them. Sissa. aware of the disrepute
into which the precrpts of morality and vir
tue had fallen. from the evil examples held
up by those who taught them. was led to de-
wise a mode of instruction whereby his les
sons should appear the result of the Princes
own reasoning. rather than the instruction { {
another. With this view be invented the
game of 'Shaik.' or the king In the
game he cOntrived to make the King the
most important of all the pieces. bat yet the
easiest to attack. and the most difficult to de-
fend. and only to be defend,d by the next in
rank or consequence in the game in grada-
The game was first spread abroad among
some of the leading men. and. from the great
fame OF SiSsa. became soon in vogue The
Prince heard Of it, and directed that the in
ventor should be his instructor The sage
Brahmin had now attained his desire. and in
:he course of his instruction. took seasonable
occasion to poiut out the dependence of the
King on the Pawns. and other scasonahle
truths. The Prince. born with genius. and
capable of viTtuous sentiments, in despite of
the maxim of cOurters, applied to himself
the morality the game So strongly exhibited,
and reforming his conduct his people soon
became happy.
The Prince, eager TO recOmpense the Brah-
min for the good derived from his ingenuity,
requested him to demand what be thought
competent. The Brahmin asked only a gift
OF corn. the amount of which should be re-
gulated by the number of houses Cor squares)
on the Chess board; putting one grain on
the first house, two on the second, four on the
third. and so on, in double progression, to
the siXty-fourth house.
The apparent moderation of the demand
astonished the King and he unhcsitatngly
granted it. But when his treasurer had cal
culated the amount of the donation, he found
that the Kings revenues were not competent
to discharge it. For the corn of Is, 1884 towns,
each containing 1854 graineries of 1892
measures each, and each measure'tO consist
of 32.76S grains, could alone answer the de
mand. The Brahmin then took the oppOrtu-
nifty of pointing out to the Monarch how ne
cessary it was, especially for Kings to be
guard against the arts of those who sur
round them, how much they owed TO their
subjects, and how cautious they shonld be Of
inconsiderately bestowing the goods waste
ully.