Gyan bazi (game of knowledge) is an early version of the familiar snakes-and-ladders board game. A quasi-religious game, it was popular in the Rajasthani courts during the 18th and 19th centuries, especially among the ladies. Played widely across India, the game is available in Hindu, Muslim and Jain versions. Still enjoyed today as a children’s game, it was traditionally played during the Paryusana festival and was favoured by Jain nuns, who used it as a didactic pastime to impart the concept of karma. Over the time, however, the game lost its religious significance and became a secular, recreational activity.
The present gyan bazi features black snakes traversing multiple squares filled with text and numbers and bordered in yellow, capped by a tiered gate flanked with floral vines, celestial musicians and vahanas. Played with dice, the board represents the progress of life, with certain squares denoting good deed, and others bad deeds, along with their consequences. Starting in the lower squares representing hell, players can advance to the next square by answering questions correctly, sometimes aided by a ladder to skip squares. An encounter with a snake head, however, sends players back to its tail, where they must start anew. To win, players must reach the recumbent crescent, symbolising moksha, located above the celestial pavilion at the top centre of the board. (van Alphen, J., Steps to Liberation, Antwerp, 2000, p. 126 and Pal, P. (Ed.), The Peaceful Liberators: Jain Art from India, New York and London, 1994, S. Andhare, p. 86)
A comparable example of gyan bazi, in a relatively smaller size, is housed at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (acc. no. CIRC.324-1972). Further compare the present lot to a painting depicting the game sold at Sotheby's London on 30 March 2022, lot 68.