It is a typical Diwali night during my growing-up years. The day's festivities are over, dinner is finished and the kitchen closed. Our extended family of 20 is seated on the floor across a checkered piece of cloth shaped like a cross. Uncles, Aunts, Dad, Mom, siblings, and cousins, we all gaze at it intently. It has different colored pawns, red, green, yellow and black placed at various positions on the cloth. We are playing a game of Dhodda aata (Kannada for "the big game"). It is a tense moment. My dad leans towards me and says gravely "listen Shilpa, throw a 10 or 25". My mom who is on the opposing team, trolls in a mock sweet voice "Shilpa, throw a 2 or 3, Ok". As I rub the cowry shells in my hands and prepare to toss them in the air, my team gets off the floor and starts shouting "daha re panchvees re" (10 or 25) whereas the other tema starts shouting "don re teen re" (two or 3) in a similar fashion. The cowries are in the air, the shouting reaches a crescendo. As the cowries land on the carpet, the screaming dissolves into squeals of delight or dismay. The cowries have spelt a 10. My dad is jubilant and pats me on my back. I beam, although I know that I had little to do with the outcome. My dad, the captain of our team, ‘kills’ an opponent pawn by knocking it off its position with a flourish. The pawn goes back to its home. The game has just become interesting. The teams settle down and discuss strategy with their captains for the next 5-10 minutes. The game resumes. The cowries are passed to other team for the next turn. The night wears on into the wee hours with similar scenes interceded by jovial bantering and light snacking.

These are my fondest memories of Diwali as I grew up. Diwali means different things to different people. For some it maybe about the fire crackers, sweets, and new clothes for others it could be about brightly decorated porches and rangoli, but, for me the most enjoyable part of Diwali was the games. As kids, we played nearly all day. We played card games, monopoly or other games of chance, but we mostly played Pagadi aata i.e. any game played on the cross-shaped cloth called patta. The king of the Pagadi aata was, of course, the Dhodda aata which was played at night with the utmost intensity as you just saw. Across India, Pagadi is known by several different names such as Pagade, Chausar, Chopat, Chaupar, Pacheesi or Dayakattai¹. Outside India it is known as Pachisi or Parcheesi. It is a war strategy game similar to chess, but there are variations in the way it is played². In my family's version, the aim is to start on one arm of the patta and move anti-clockwise till you get back home. While you journey, you have to safe-guard your strategic positions, capture those of your opponent’s and kill the opponent's pawns. The 64 steps to home and 8 pawns on each team lead to enormous permutations and combinations such that every game is a unique experience.

During Diwali, the traditional game of Pagadi is played in parts of Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, especially in the villages. Games of chance, however, are integral to Diwali celebrations all over India. There are a few stories attached to this tradition. In one, it is said that Goddess Lakshmi favors those who gamble after the Lakshmi puja. In another, the story goes that Krishna and Radha enjoyed games of dice during Diwali which is why we continue the tradition. In yet other stories, the famous game of dice that the Pandavas and Kauravas played in the epic of Mahabharata is retold as a fable on the role of luck in life. The most poignant story related to the games, however, is the one that is told through the lens of the Samkhya school of Vedic philosophy. While this story itself has several versions^3-6, here is the gist of them.

Shiva and Parvati, in the form of Ardhanarishvara, were in a blissful embrace. Narad Muni, the traveling troublemaker, came to them and said that he knows a game that is far more enjoyable than their lovemaking. Intrigued, Shiva and Parvati separate from each other and begin playing the game of dice. They play for a long time, trying to defeat each other and even cheating at the game. Shiva is ahead in the games for a few rounds but in the long run he always loses to Parvati. At one point in time, Parvati loses her jewels and is enraged. She agrees to continue playing only if Shiva pledges his trident, crescent moon and his pair of earrings. Shiva agrees. He then loses all of these objects, his only material belongings, to Parvati. Resigned, Shiva retreats to a forest and goes into meditation, content in his solitude. Parvati, however, is adrift and cannot live without Shiva. Parvati, in the form of a forest woman makes Shiva fall in love with her. Eventually, Shiva and Parvati return to their abode and live together in harmony. From the perspective of the Samkhya School, Shiva represents the concept of purusha, i.e. pure consciousness whereas Parvati represents prakriti, the world or the experience of consciousness. Shiva will always lose to Parvati in the game of dice, because consciousness will ultimately get engulfed in its experience and lose itself. While Shiva can detach himself from Parvati momentarily through meditation, eventually he has to return and live in harmony with her.

Thus, Diwali, a celebration of triumph of good over evil and light over darkness, is also a celebration of the dice game of life. As a kid, I did not bother to know these stories or understand the symbolism of gambling during Diwali. But, now as Diwali approaches and our nuclear families are spread across continents, I hungrily devour these stories to appease the nostalgia that is setting in. I finally understand why games of chance are associated with one of our most auspicious festivals and appreciate our traditions even more. I also know that my nostalgia will not be appeased by anything but another Diwali night where a room full of rowdy family members are coaxing the cowry shells to do their bidding. 

References

1. https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/the-indian-games-of-pachisi-chaupar-and-chausar/
2. https://www.mastersofgames.com/rules/pachisi-rules.htm 
3. Smoley, R. (2009). The Dice Game of Shiva. Navato, California, New World Library.
4. http://arunachalagrace.blogspot.com/2011/03/game-of-dice-and-annapoorna.html
5. https://symbolreader.net/2018/05/13/on-play/

https://www.speakingtree.in/article/vedant