Las Vegas Showgirls IV by Georgia Albert with Jan Newton June 21, 2004

Satranji:  Getting High on Chess?

Let us look in on the world-famous and world-read Goddesschess Showgirls, Bambi Darlin and Candi Kane. They are at their luxurious, paradisiacal estate with the million dollar view, nestled high on a mountainside outside of Las Vegas Nevada, overlooking the sparkling casinos of the Las Vegas Strip. The Girls are wearing flowing saris and carrying bowls of fresh lemons and oranges that perfume the air as they walk to their Pleasure Garden, all in preparation for their Kama Sutra exercises.

Candi: Kama Sutra...Hmmm...if a picture is worth 10,000 words...then that would mean a movie would be worth Billions and Billions of words...We need to buy the movie "Karma Sutra" a Tale of Love, for our DVD library. It is one of my very favorites.

Bambi: I like it also! 'Billions and Billions' reminds me of Carl Sagan, the famous astronomer.

Candi: Carl Sagan! He is one of my favorite writers! He smoked marijuana regularly, which makes him all right in my book.

Bambi: Candi, that reminds me, Jan and Georgia just emailed and they said that our "Aphrodisiac Cooking" article is a hit!! They say the visitor's statistics for our article are wonderful and they want us to do another. This time they want us to focus on the Satranji Rug, weaving, the use of Jute, also known as Cannabis, and their connections to the Goddess and Fertility.

Candi: Canapés and chess! That sounds Yummmy!

Bambi: No, not Canapés! Cannabis!

Candi: Cannibals! Oh Yeah! But the whole eating people thing is so gruesome...

Bambi: No!!! Not Cannibals! Cannabis! Cannabis, also known as Marijuana, Jute, Hemp, Ghanga, Pot, Mota, the Red Haired Ass, and Hashish.

Candi: The Red-Haired Ass! Well, why didn't you say so in the first place. That's one of Jan's nicknames, you know.

Bambi: Candi! Oh, never mind...

Candi: I remember some posts Georgia made on "The Weave" a few years ago, maybe we can get some leads there. (See Posts 578 and 1083).

Bambi: Georgia sent some material to help us out. We can look it over later.

Candi:  The Weave....hmmm...Bambi, I am having some serious thoughts, ooooh...

Inside Candi's Brain: The simplest form of weaving results in a checkerboard pattern, where the weft thread/ yarn is interwoven across the warp thread/yarn. This same process was also used to weave baskets. You can see the pattern, for instance, in this Egyptian basket.  Weaving of baskets and weaving of cloth were probably invented in close conjunction with one another, but we can't be certain when, or which came first!  Evidence of woven cloth from 8,000 years ago has been found in Turkey and Mesopotamia, but because cloth and the natural materials used for weaving baskets and other containers biodegrade over time, very few of these items from ancient times have survived to our day.  Thus, the concept of the checkerboard pattern is very old. Archaeologists and Anthropologists speculate that the first organized land surveying activity arose when pastoral society evolved into urban centers supported by hinterlands, and the concept of king by divine right was simultaneously evolving.  Under this ancient system, the king controlled all of the land - by divine fiat.  It was understood that the goddesses and gods were overlooking the king's stewardship of THEIR property and, by inference, approved the system the king instituted for rulership over and division of the land.  The king, therefore, assumed the absolute right to parcel out the land to his family and friends, with the common people getting whatever else was left over (which was sometimes nothing, and then they became tenants on someone else's land).  This system of land division and putative ownership generated much tax revenue for the king, a far cry from the "old days" when the first farmers sowed their seed wherever it was best apt to grow, and no one worried about who owned what land, they were just concerned about having enough food to eat the year around and bringing the crop to fruition was the primary focus.  As this system of land stewardship evolved, the ancient Sumerians and Egyptians  developed a system of surveying that resulted in - when viewed from above (the Heavens, the realm of the divine ones) - a checkerboard weave pattern.

Bambi:  That is sooo excellent, Candi!  The Extensive Program of Reading that you have undertaken in Your Spare Time is paying dividends.

Candi:  You are right, Bambi.  You cannot know how many attempts it took me to spell "anthropologists" correctly - now it seems to flow so trippingly off the keyboard, but when I first attempted it, it came out "antherapologies", and then "antlerpologists" and then -

Bambi:  Focus, Candi.  We must focus!  Thousands of years after the grid-system of surveying was invented by the Sumerians, a very similar system was used by the United States government to grid-out land owned by the government that was granted to homesteaders.  The resulting checkerboard pattern is evident when you look down on the land from an airplane even today, and the boundaries of the states west of the Mississippi River were predicated by that grid system; our younger cities are also set-up on the grid system, block by block, square by square. Surveying land on the grid system was also used in ancient China. Bejing (ancient Peking), for instance, was laid out in a checkerboard pattern.

Excerpt from Beijing's History, a Guide to China's Capital City:  Mongol armies occupied Zhongdu in 1215. At this time, the city of Kaiping (in present-day Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region) served as the principal Mongol capital (Shangdu), while Yanjing was given provincial status. It was not until 1271 that Kublai Khan formally adopted the new dynasty's name -- Yuan -- and made Yanjing the capital. Kublai Khan rebuilt the city and gave it the Chinese (Han) name of Dadu (Ta-tu) or Great Capital, though in Mongol it was known as Khanbalig (Marco Polo's Cambaluc), the City of the Great Khan. When the Mongols finally eliminated the Southern Song and unified China, Dadu became the political center of the country for the first time in history.  The construction of Dadu began in 1267 and ended in 1293, extending throughout the entire period of Kublai Khan's rule. The magnificent palaces of the Jin capital Zhongdu were destroyed by fire during the dynastic turnover from the Jin to the Yuan. When the capital was rebuilt, the original site of Zhongdu was replaced by a larger rectangular area centered in a beautiful lake region in the northeastern suburbs.. . .  The new Dadu was a rectangular city more than 30 kilometers in circumference. In the later years of Kublai Khan's rule, the city population consisted of 100,000 households or roughly 500,000 people. The layout was the result of uniform planning, the broader streets all 24 paces wide, the narrow lanes half this width. The regular chessboard pattern created an impression of relaxed orderliness.

Candi:  Such a big city with so many people in the 14th century CE? I can't take it all in, it makes me dizzy. Pass the Cannabis Incense, please.

Bambi:  Here. I'll join you...

Candi:  Ahhhhh...I see it now - the BIG PICTURE...Weaving, the Checkerboard Pattern, the Chessboard... it is all interwoven! Ooooh, I made a Pun! Sooooo, this all leads to the Weaving of the Satranji, the cloth carpets upon which Chatrang was played!

Bambi:  Yes it does!

Candi: I'll go get the Magic Carpet, the Satranji, which I have renamed. Cute, don't you think? Bambi, don't forget the fertility and goddess connections to the Mandrake plant, which the ancient Persians called Chatrang, which is what they also called chess. We wrote about that in "Aphrodisiac Cooking".

Inside Candi's Brain: Satranji, Though this Rug originated in Persia, the Caucasus and Central Asia before 6th to 4th century B.C., it has continued for thousands of years in Bangladesh. Many of the Bangladeshi traditional crafts have died out but Satranji is still alive. There were various colors and designs of Satranji. These designs continued as folk tradition. Satranji, named Pilpa, which was known as Hatipaya was very famous and popular according to the historian Hunter (1873). The other designs of Satranji, known as Jafri, Itkhati, Latai were also highly accepted.

Bambi: The ancient Persians played Chatrang on woven cloth rugs called Satranji. But the art of weaving Satranji was perfected by the people of northern India (now Pakistan and also Bangladesh) only after the game of Chatrang was reintroduced into the area after the Arab conquests of Persia and India. The Indians called the game board rugs Satranji after Shatranj - which is the Arabic name for the Persian game Chatrang. But if chess was supposed to have been invented in northern India in the 5th century CE and then exported to Persia in the 6th century CE, why is there no record of Satranji in India prior to the 11th century CE?

Candi: Maybe because the Indians didn't invent Chatrang. Pass me an orange slice, please.

Bambi: Oh! Well, that makes sense. The Indians would not have had Satranji because they didn't have Chaturanga - which is supposed to be the Persian game Chatrang. Maybe the Indians called their game of chess Chaturanga after they imported the Persian game of Chatrang, and they played Chatrang/ Chaturanga on the ashtapada board until, several hundred years later, they imported the idea of Persian Satranji rugs, too.

Candi: The Silk Road and all that stuff, Bambi. It only makes sense that people who were involved in trade and constantly travelling for a living would have played on woven cloth boards. They are lightweight and easy to roll up and store away. I'll bet Satranji and pachisi boards were woven by women.

Bambi: I'll bet you're right. It was women who were the master weavers in ancient cultures all around the world. These master women weavers were also the inventors of the first complex machinery used by man: the loom. The weavers of your Satranji used Jute (Cannabis) to make the carpet. They also designed the patterns for the carpet on a grid, and the chessboard is a grid. That means Jute is used to form the Matrix of the carpet....

Bambi Thinks: Satranji: Jute woven and piled/tufted carpets have found a niche market.  A traditional jute mat known as "Satranji" has also received much acclaim from the consumers and has a large market potential. Satranji is a mat of various designs and sizes, made of dyed jute yarns. It is woven in handloom.  . . .  From the website for the International Jute Study Group, authored by the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India.

Candi: The Matrix? I saw that movie, "...There is no spoon." But Bambi, there is a spoon!

Bambi: Candi, what are you talking about?

Candi: Take a look at THIS.

Bambi: Oh Yes! That is a shi, which is used by diviners of Feng Shui. That "spoon" shape in the middle is the constellation the Chinese call "bei du", which we know as the Big Dipper or Ursa Major. The ancient Chinese originally constructed shi for divination, but one of their ultimate uses was as a compass. Here is an early shuopan compass derived from the shi.

Candi: Yes! The ancient Chinese used an early form of sundial to establish the four cardinal points (north/east/south/west) and once they had those coordinates established, they drew diagonals where the figurative four corners of the Spherical Heavens intersected with the flat plane of the Square Earth (our four seasons follow these diagonals). The I Ching was formed on the Four Cardinal Directions and the Four Diagonals, leading to THE EIGHT.

Bambi: Oh, Katherine Neville's THE EIGHT. Such an excellent book! But I wasn't talking about the movie "Matrix"! The Matrix is the web of warp and weft Jute threads that, together, make a carpet.  A Matrix of Cannabis.... Eureka!  I just had an Epiphany!

Candi: Did you say Tiffany's? You know I love shopping at Tiffany's, in fact I have done extensive research into the company's history....

Bambi: No! Not Tiffany's! Epiphany! It means a revelation.

Candi: Oh, Sorry. Do you think Jan would like an article about Tiffany's?

Bambi: I don't know, but I will be very pleased to help you write it.  Ahhh shopping at Tiffany's, its one of my favorite things to do.

Candi: So tell me about your E-Tiffany.

Bambi: As you know, I have been studying ethnobotany and medical herbs for many years. Well, Cannabis cakes were eaten by young women to make themselves more fertile. Cannabis protein is perfect for humans and has been used as a food source for thousands of years. Cannabis was used by midwives to help ease the pain of women during labor and child birth, and it was also used to control the nausea and vomiting that comes with morning sickness, and because it is a marvelous antidepressant it was given to new mothers suffering from the potentially lethal effects of post-partem depression.

Cannabis has been cultivated by many cultures, including the ancient Romans. It is non-toxic and non-addictive. Its' use in weaving goes back eons in time, and in many history books it is sometimes referred to as 'linen', which is a misnomer. The cloth made form Cannabis is very durable. In Japan there is the woman who is considered a national treasure because she weaves Cannabis and makes fine Ukatas, a warm weather kimono, that will last for at least 100 years with normal wear.

Candi: 100 years! I would hate having to wear the same outfit for my whole lifetime. What an awful thought!

Bambi: 100 years for Cannabis fabric, and hundreds of years for paper made of Cannabis. Did you know that the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights are written on Cannabis paper? The Law of the Land is written on the Hand of the Goddess.

Candi: I'm confused...You said that the Law of the Land is written on Cannabis. So what does that have to do with the Hand of the Goddess? An excellent book by Tamora Pierce, with the heroine Alanna, a sword-wielding, hard-riding redhead! So why does the U.S. Government throw good people into prison for growing and using this miraculous plant??

Bambi: The answer to that question will have to wait to be answered by far wiser people than us. Tamora Pierce? Candi, you'll turn your brain to mush reading books like that!

Candi: Well, I believe the ones that make Cannabis illegal are the real criminals. And I like my brains mushy, thank you. Anyway, your brain will probably turn to mush much sooner than mine. You read H.J.R. Murray at breakfast. Ohhh Bambi, that's so, so, so -

Bambi: Never mind Murray. H.J.R. and I understand each other very well.

Candi: But he's DEAD. Ohhhh Bambi! You've been reading too much Spearshaker - all those ghosts and things flying around and blood spots on hands and -

Bambi: Candi! It's Shakespeare. And I'm speaking figuratively.

Candi: Oh!

Bambi: How about we do some personal research. Our Pleasure Garden harvest is our best yet. Would you please pass the Scythian bowl so I can harvest some more herbs?

Candi: Here. Let's sit on the Magic Carpet. Shall we play some chess?  Bambi! I just had one of your E-Tiffany's! Do you remember the Harry Potter movies?

Bambi: Oh, Yes! They're some of my favorite adult movies.

Candi: But I thought Harry Potter is for children?

Bambi: Only on the surface, Candi. Only an adult with a thorough grounding in esoterica, the histories of ancient cultures and their myths and legends can truly appreciate J.K. Rowling's books.

Candi: Oh.  Well, I don't have a thorough grounding in any of those things, and I still get Harry Potter!  Hey - get it - Potter - Pot!  Ha ha ha! Ties right into our Satranji research!  Check.  Anyway, this is my E-Tiffany.  Do you remember at Hogwart's school the kids were put in houses named Huffelpuff, Raven Claw, Griffindorf, and Slytherin, the one associated with the snake which, by the way, is an ancient goddess symbol.

Bambi: Yes, I remember, go on.  Un-check.

Candi: Well, don't you get it?

Bambi: No, give me a hint.

Candi: This bowl! The Slytherin Bowl! The Slytherin culture is one of your favorite research subjects.  Mate in five.

Bambi: Not Slytherin! Scythian!  And that is not mate in five, Candi.  It's maybe mate in nine, but not if I do - ahhhh, yes, this....

Candi: Scythian, Slytherin - they sound so similar and considering the fact that Harry Potter movies not only have numerous allusions to chess - in fact - oooooh, Bambi, I'm having another E-Tiffany! Oh, oh, oh, oh...  I'm so hot, I'm so sweaty - oh oh - Candi, Candi!  Tear off part of the Satranji, roll it up and light it for me - I need a toke...

Bambi: Candi, Candi! We can't tear up our Satranji when we're in the middle of a game!  Here, inhale the Cannabis Incense, breathe deeply, deeply, yes, that's it. Calm, calm! Now, tell me about your E-Tiffany. I mean, Epiphany.

Candi: What if J. K. Rowling is playing out a chess game through the moves and countermoves of her characters throughout the seven planned Harry Potter novels? You know, that Spearshaker person you're always quoting 'the world is a big stage' and all that, which is just another metaphor for a chessboard.  Oh - here's my move.  Mate in two.

Bambi: Shakespeare, Candi, Shakespeare. You might be on to something! The nomadic Scythians of the Ukraine smoked Cannabis. It was so popular among the Scythians that bundles of it have been found in their grave goods. Cannabis was packed into bowls and set afire during their ceremonies and rituals. Cannabis seeds were ground and used as a major food source, being rich in protein and essential oils. The left-over hulls made excellent animal feed, being 25% protein.  Let's try and find some more connections between Cannabis and the Goddess and fertility.  And that is not mate in two.  It's mate in four - except it won't be because this is my move.  Ha!  Take that!

Candi: Did you ever notice the name for Cannabis used by Voodoo worshippers is Ghanga, which sounds a lot like Ghanges, as in the India river, the river that is considered to be Mother Ghanges to the Hindoo. Hey! Hindoo...Voodoo! I remember some research I did a long time ago and I discovered that there is a connection between the Hindoo and Voodoo.  Check.

Bambi: As we say in Las Vegas, We are on a Roll! Gerhard pointed us in the Hindoo Kush region.  Un-check.

Candi: Bambi, Remember the trip we took to Kathmandu last February? The Kush is very interesting.

Inside Candi's Brain: Section 13: The Kingdom of the Da Yuezhi (the Kushans) The main centre of the Da Yuezhi (Kushan) kingdom is the town of Lanshi (Bactra/Balkh). To the west it borders Anxi (Parthia), which is 49 days march away. To the east, it is 6,537 li (2,718 km) from the seat of the Chief Scribe [in Lukchun], and 16,370 li (6,807 km) from Luoyang. There are 100,000 households, 400,000 individuals, and more than 100,000 men able to bear arms. Formerly, the Yuezhi were defeated by the Xiongnu. They then moved to Daxia (Bactria) and divided up this kingdom between five xihou (ÔAllied PrincesÕ), which were those of Xiumi (Western Wakhan and Zibak), Shuangmi (Shughnan), Guishuang (Badakhshan and the adjoining territories north of the Oxus), Xidun (the region of Balkh), and Dumi (the region of Termez). More than a hundred years later, the xihou ("Allied Prince") of Guishuang (Badakhshan and the adjoining territories north of the Oxus), named Qiujiu Que (Kujula Kadphises), attacked and exterminated the four other xihou ("Allied Princes"). He set himself up as king of a kingdom called Guishuang (Badakhshan). He invaded Anxi (Parthia) and took the Gaofu (Kabul) region. He also defeated the whole of the kingdoms of Puta (Parthuaia, 55 CE), and Jibin (Kapisha-Peshawar). Qiujiu Que (Kujula Kadphises) was more than eighty years old when he died. His son, Yan Gaozhen (Vima Taktu), became king in his place. He returned and defeated Tianzhu (Northwestern India) and installed a General to supervise and lead it. The Yuezhi then became extremely rich. All the kingdoms call [their king] the Guishuang (Kushan) king, but the Han call them by their original name, Da Yuezhi. Section 14 - The Kingdom of Gaofu (Kabul) The Kingdom of Gaofu (Kabul) is southwest of the Da Yuezhi (Kushans). It is also a large kingdom. Their way of life is similar to that of Tianzhu (Northwestern India), but they are weak and easy to subdue. They are excellent traders and are very wealthy. They have not always been ruled by the same masters. Whenever one of the three kingdoms of Tianzhu (Northwestern India), Jibin (Kapisha-Peshawar), or Anxi (Parthia) became powerful, they took control of it; when weakened, they lost it. Gaofu (Kabul) was never previously dependent on the Yuezhi. The Hanshu was wrong when it included it among the five xihou ("Allied Princes"). It was a dependency of Anxi (Parthia). It was only after the Yuezhi defeated Anxi (Parthia) that they took Gaofu.

Bambi: Oh that is excellent, Candi, demonstrating how the early Chinese historians had extensive knowledge of the kingdoms and peoples to the West hundreds of years before Chaturanga was supposedly invented by the Indians. Yes, we were in Kathmandu during the Hindu Holiday Shivaratri in honor of Shiva's Birthday.

Candi: Shiva is also associated with Cannabis! And there were Holy Men, Sadhus, dressed in orange robes and they were smoking Pot! Do you suppose that the merchant chessplayers who practiced their trade along the Silk Road rolled joints from their Satranji?  They could have re-supplied their Satranji regularly along their trade route.  I think we have a great deal of research in front of us, Bambi.  Gerhard wrote that entire article about syncretism and chess in the Kushan Empire.  But I don't think he went far enough back in time. Checkmate.

Bambi:  That is not checkmate.  You are right, Candi. We have a lot of work ahead of us, particularly in Afghanistan.  Wasn't the Shahr-i Sokhta gameboard discovered there more than 4,000 years ago?  We must continue to broaden our focus!  We must prepare this research for submission to Goddesschess - where is my laptop?

Candi:  That is checkmate. Checkmate three times, actually - see my Bishop, my Knightess, and that little pawn over there...  Here, have another whiff of the Cannabis Incense, and put a few herbs on top.  It's delicious!

Bambi:  Well, if you insist...

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Links for further reading and information:

The Art and History of Weaving, Susan C. Wylly, Professor of Art, Georgia College and State University

Vision of the Gods: An Inquiry into the Meaning of Photography, Ali Hossaini

Hemp Awareness Speech at Westminster College, Deborah Brennan

Instruments of Surveying, International Federation of Surveyors, History of Surveying and Measurement

Public Land Survey System Rectangular Map Grid System

Public Land Survey System, Wikpedia

The Scythians, High Plains Drifters, by Chris Bennet (date unknown), Cannabis Culture Magazine

Marijuana and the Goddess, by Chris Bennet, September 1, 1998; see also KANEH BOSM, the Hidden Story of Cannabis in the Old Testament, by Chris Bennet (date unknown

Cannabis in Japan, by Joe Wein (date unknown)