Any discussion of the motivation of gambling usually starts with the natural comparison to life. Life is a gamble. Everyday, people are faced with situations which involve risk and chance. Professor Rangachar looks at the religious antecedents of gaming and the reaction to its development.
The turf, the tennis court, the chess board, and pavement hopscotch cannot formally be distinguished from the temple or the magic circle. Game diagrams were built into roofing slabs or the floor of temples in ancient India, sometimes carved into the cloister seats. Professor Rangachar explores how the devotee, the deity, and the game met.
