EnchantedEcho

Texts referring to the origins of chess date from the beginning of the seventh century. Three are written in Pahlavi (Middle Persian)[43] and one, the Harshacharita, is in Sanskrit.[44] One of these texts, the Chatrang-namak, represents one of the earliest written accounts of chess. The narrator Bozorgmehr explains that Chatrang, "Chess" in Pahlavi, was introduced to Persia by 'Dewasarm, a great ruler of India' during the reign of Khosrow I:[45]

Dewasarm has fashioned this chatrang after the likeness of a battle, and in its likeness are two supreme rulers after the likeness of Kings (shah), with the essentials of rooks (rukh) to right and to left, with Counsellor (farzin) in the likeness of a commander of the champions, with the Elephant (pil) in the likeness of the commander of the rearguard, with Horse (asp) in the likeness of the commander of the cavalry, with the Footsoldier (piyadak) in the likeness of so many infantry in the vanguard of the battle.