The Surprising Indian Origins of Snakes and Ladders

Almost everyone remembers the frustration of Snakes and Ladders. One lucky roll sends a player climbing towards victory, while another lands them on a snake and returns them to the bottom of the board.

Today, it is treated as a simple children’s game governed almost entirely by chance. Its earlier Indian forms, however, carried a much deeper purpose. The board represented the journey of life, ladders rewarded virtues, snakes punished vices, and the final square symbolised spiritual liberation.

The familiar game was not originally only about reaching number 100. It was a lesson about karma, conduct and moksha presented in a form that people could play.

What Was Snakes and Ladders Originally Called?

The Indian ancestors of Snakes and Ladders appeared under several names and in different regional and religious forms. Two names commonly associated with the game are Moksha Patam and Gyan Chaupar, sometimes written as Gyan Chaupad or Gyan Chauper.

Moksha means liberation from the cycle of birth and death, while gyan means knowledge. Chaupar refers to a traditional Indian board game or playing surface. These names reveal that the game was understood as something more meaningful than a race between tokens.

There was no single standard board used throughout India. Surviving examples contain different numbers of squares and reflect Hindu, Jain and other philosophical traditions. The British Museum, for example, holds a late-19th-century Hindu Gyan Chaupar board from the historic Punjab Hills containing 342 squares and depictions of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiv at the top.

Because several traditions and board designs existed, it is more accurate to describe modern Snakes and Ladders as developing from a family of Indian moral and spiritual games rather than from one universally standard ancient board.

The Board Represented the Journey of Life

In the original Indian concept, moving across the board symbolised a soul’s progress through life. A player advanced according to a throw of dice or another chance device, but progress was interrupted by moral choices represented on individual squares.

The ladders were connected with virtues and positive qualities. Depending on the particular board, these could include:

• Truthfulness
• Faith
• Generosity
• Humility
• Compassion
• Devotion
• Knowledge

Landing on one of these qualities allowed the player to climb towards a higher spiritual state.

The snakes represented harmful conduct and weaknesses such as:

• Anger
• Greed
• Pride
• Theft
• Dishonesty
• Cruelty
• Lust
• Vanity

A player who landed on one of these squares descended to a lower position. The movement illustrated a simple moral principle: virtuous actions could elevate a person, while destructive actions could undo progress.

The destination at the top was not merely “victory.” In many versions, it represented moksha, liberation or union with the divine. The entire board could therefore be read as a miniature spiritual map.

Why Were There More Snakes Than Ladders?

Many traditional boards contained more snakes than ladders. This imbalance was meaningful. It suggested that moral and spiritual progress required effort, while falling into harmful habits was comparatively easy.

A player could spend most of the game moving steadily upwards, only to encounter a snake and lose much of that progress. The lesson was not particularly subtle: a single act rooted in ego, anger or greed could carry serious consequences.

The role of chance also gave the game another philosophical dimension. Players controlled neither the number produced nor the square on which they landed. This uncertainty reflected the unpredictable circumstances of human life.

However, the labelled virtues and vices ensured that the game was not presenting life as meaningless chance. It connected advancement and decline with the Indian concepts of karma and moral consequence.

Was the Game Invented by Sant Dnyaneshwar?

A popular modern claim credits the 13th-century Marathi saint Dnyaneshwar, also known as Gyandev, with inventing the game. This story is frequently repeated online, sometimes with great certainty.

However, firm historical evidence identifying one person as the inventor is lacking. The game existed in multiple forms and religious traditions, and its development is difficult to trace to a single individual or date.

It is therefore safer to say that Snakes and Ladders evolved from Indian games of moral and spiritual instruction. Claims naming a particular inventor should be presented as tradition or popular attribution, not as an established historical fact.

Hindu and Jain Versions of the Game

The basic journey across the board could be adapted to different religious teachings. Hindu versions might present liberation through devotion, knowledge and righteous conduct. Some boards included deities, cosmic regions or different spiritual states.

Jain versions could emphasise right faith, right knowledge, right conduct, nonviolence and freedom from attachment. The snakes and other downward movements represented behaviours that bound the soul more deeply to worldly existence.

This flexibility explains why surviving boards vary considerably in layout, terminology and number of squares. They shared a recognisable method, but their precise teachings reflected the community that created or used them.

The game was therefore not simply an ancient version of a modern toy. It was a visual teaching device capable of turning complex religious and philosophical ideas into a memorable experience.

How the Game Changed Under British Rule

The Indian game reached Britain during the colonial period and was commercially adapted during the late 19th century. Its central mechanism remained easy to understand: climb a ladder, slide down a snake and reach the final square before the other players.

However, the game’s specifically Indian ideas were gradually replaced or simplified. British boards often connected ladders with Victorian virtues such as obedience, kindness, thrift or punctuality, while snakes represented behaviours such as disobedience, dishonesty and cruelty.

The Victoria and Albert Museum describes a game called Kismet from 1895 in which snakes represented the consequences of behaviours such as lying and cruelty, while positive behaviour brought rewards.

Over time, even these explicit moral lessons became less important. Modern boards commonly use numbers, colourful illustrations and cartoon snakes without explaining any connection to karma or spiritual liberation.

From Snakes to Chutes in the United States

In the United States, the game became widely known as Chutes and Ladders. Snakes were replaced with playground-style slides or chutes, making the design appear friendlier to young children.

The basic structure nevertheless remained unchanged. Players still climbed after landing on favourable squares and descended after landing on unfavourable ones.

This is one reason the game travelled so successfully across cultures. Its rules were simple enough to be understood without language, yet its dramatic reversals kept every round unpredictable.

A Spiritual Lesson Hidden Inside a Children’s Game

Modern Snakes and Ladders appears to be a game of pure luck. Players make almost no strategic decisions, and even the person closest to victory can be defeated by an unfortunate roll.

Viewed through its Indian origins, this lack of control begins to make sense. The board presents life as an uncertain journey filled with advancement and setbacks. Progress is possible, but it is not always permanent. Pride can follow success, loss can follow confidence, and a person who falls can begin climbing again.

The colorful board found in homes around the world is therefore the surviving form of a much older Indian idea. Its spiritual vocabulary may have faded, but its central metaphor remains intact: life contains ladders that lift us, snakes that bring us down and a destination that can never be reached without completing the journey.