A Game of Dice and the Beginning of Human Life – Blog 10 of 10

My last blog for Dussera, features a Shiva and Parvati seated on a Nandi. There are numerous stories of Shiva and Parvati playing dice together. There is no actual evidence of the game they played – all we know is that they played a game of dice.

Dice are small throwable objects that rest in different positions and help us generate random numbers that define the flow of the game. The original randomizing objects used as dice by ancient people dating from pre-history were sets of two-sided flat sticks, flat seashells, nut-shells, pebbles, etc. Technically any two-faced flat shape, like an ordinary coin, is a kind of dice. Perhaps the most popular of these were the cowrie shells.

Another popular throw piece in India is the long dice. While many believe that the square dice is not native to India, that is not true. Indus Valley excavations have actually found square dice with markings numbered 1 – 6 and opposite sides adding up to 7 as is the convention even today. 

But returning to Shiva and Parvati, tales of their games are numerous. There are two aspects I find fascination – the first the romance in the game. I don’t think it can be better captured than this delightful poem:

An embrace at first

And then a loving kiss had been her losses in the gambling match.

Now when her lover asks again for stakes

She is silent, though the flush upon her cheek rises with suppressed excitement,

And her hand is sweating as she moves the piece.

(Subhasitaratnakosa, 605, attributed to Rajasekhara)

But perhaps the more fascinating is the effect of the game itself.  Don Handelman and David Shulman, in their book God Inside-Out: Siva’s Game of Dice, actually ascribe the existence of life itself to a game of dice. Their theory is that before the game, the godhead is androgynous – with male and female elements fused together as Ardhanareshwar. The premise is that the conflict arising from the game splits the genders apart thus giving rise to humanity as we know it.

To me this is perfect… imagine if we could actually trace all life back to a game!