Allegories of royal games

While many of us think of games as something limited to two or four people around the table in a family, in ancient times, games had far wider connotations, not just in India.

- VINITA SIDHARTHA [e-mail]

For example, in Greek and Roman traditions, funerary games were competitions held in honour of the deceased person, often a hero or a noble figure, as part of their funeral rites. This is graphically described in Homer's Iliad, when Achilles organised elaborate games to honour his fallen friend, Patroclus. The purpose of these games was to pay tribute to the dead, to appease the gods as the games were seen as offerings, and of course, to display wealth and power.