INDIA, 19TH CENTURY

Details

Two Gyan bazi paintings
India, 19th Century
Each drawn with a grid divided into squares filled with questions in Devanagari script, snakes and ladders connecting different squares, the larger in black and red with a semi-circle at top and the smaller in multiple colors with a chattri at top
Left: 16¾ x 12 5/8 in. (42.4 x 32 cm.)
Right 25 1/8 x 18 7/8 in. (63.9 x 48 cm.) (2)

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Lot Essay

Gyan bazi is a knowledge-based game that is still popular as a child's game. The players start at the lower left corner and by answering questions correctly advance to the next square, sometimes aided by a ladder to skip squares. The snakes cause the player to lose ground where he must start again. To win, the player must reach the semi-circle at top; see J. van Alphen, Steps to Liberation, 2000, p. 126.

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