Chadarangam

Chadarangam is a Telugu-language version of Chaturanga, the ancient Indian game regarded as an ancestor of modern chess. Its name comes from a Sanskrit word describing an army of four limbs or divisions, reflecting the four historic branches of an Indian army: elephants, chariots, cavalry and infantry. The game is played by two players on a standard 8 by 8 board with pieces that follow the movement patterns of orthodox chess but carry Telugu names drawn from this military hierarchy. Chadarangam was historically popular among rulers and court members across Indian kingdoms. As warfare in the region shifted from chariots to camel-mounted forces, the piece originally named Ratha for chariot came to be called Ostra, meaning camel, in later versions of the game, a naming change that records a real shift in South Indian military history inside the game's own vocabulary.