a game of dice

All the world’s a stage…or if we go by Indian mythology, a game board.

According to Indian mythology time can be parcelled into kalpas or eons that stand for one complete cycle of creation and destruction. At the end of each kalpa, the universe is destroyed by fire or flood only to spring back to life in the next kalpa. Each kalpa is further divided into four yugas: Kruta, Treta, Dwapara and Kali.

Kruta was the age of morality when gods and mortals lived in close proximity. The next is Treta or the age of the Ramayana where the hero occupies a high moral ground while the rest of the world struggles with good and evil. The third is Dwapara or the age of Mahabharat when heroes too have feet of clay. The final is kali – the one we are in right now – and it stands for strife and discord. At the end of kaliyug, the universe will either sink into the deep waters or burn to ashes and from its remains will rise a new world in a new kalpa.

Now the name of each yuga is also used to denote the different throws of dice in a traditional gambling game that was played in ancient India. The game is played with a dice that has four faces (like the one used in Mah Jong) and the best throw is the Kreta where the number is perfectly divisible by four. The Treta throw has a remainder of three, Dwapara two and Kali one -- when the number is divided by four. Interesting!