Word: chaturanga
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...like modern chess, was called chaturanga, or the army game. The pieces represented the four elements of the Indian army: chariots, elephants, cavalry and infantry; they evolved through the centuries into rooks, bishops, knights and pawns. In its travels, the Hindi word rajah, for king, became shah in Persian, which led to the Arabic phrase shah mat, meaning the king is dead, from which the term checkmate is derived...
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