About Leela Atlas

Leela Atlas team · Updated 14 October 2026

Leela Atlas is an online version of Leela (also spelled Lila), the ancient Indian 72-square board game of self-knowledge that inspired Snakes and Ladders. Play alone, with friends or with a guide, in English or Russian, with a real 3D die and optional tarot, I Ching or rune cards. We built it to stay faithful to the game's Indian roots.

What is Leela Atlas?

Leela Atlas is an online version of Leela (also spelled Lila), the ancient Indian 72-square board game of self-knowledge that inspired Snakes and Ladders. Play alone, with friends or with a guide, in English or Russian, with a real 3D die and optional tarot, I Ching or rune cards.

The board is Harish Johari's 72 squares in eight rows of nine, with its ten arrows and ten snakes in their exact places and the goal at 68, Cosmic Consciousness. You start with a question, throw a fair 3D die thrown on our server or your own physical die, and read each square you land on. Arrows and snakes are taken in two steps, so you have time to read the square that moves you before you go.

Around the board we added what a good table needs: optional cards from six decks, lines from books such as the Bhagavad Gita, the Dhammapada, the Tao Te Ching and The Prophet, calm natural sounds, and a day and a night look.

What is our mission?

To give Leela the home it deserves online. The game of knowledge is one of India's great gifts to the world, and most people only know its shadow, Snakes and Ladders. We want the original to be easy to find, easy to play and faithful to what it is: a game of self-knowledge, not of fortune telling.

That means a fair die, the real board, the meaning of every square written carefully, and a record you can trust. It means no prediction, no promises and no claims of healing. Leela gives you a mirror; what you see in it is yours.

What is your Atlas?

Johari asked players to note the course of their symbol, because the same arrows and snakes return over many games. Your Atlas does that for you. It keeps every journey: your question, your path, your arrows as strengths, your snakes as lessons, your cards, notes and journal, synced across your devices. You can share a finished game with a code and let friends leave their reflections.

Who makes Leela Atlas?

Leela Atlas is made by the Leela Atlas team and built in the United Arab Emirates by CHEM RESET FZ-LLC. We are a small team of players, designers and engineers who care about the game and its sources, from Johari's commentaries to the scholarship on historical Indian boards.

Guides who facilitate Leela publish their sessions on Leela Atlas and run them from their own Studio. Players can play alone, at live tables with friends or with a guide.

Which languages does Leela Atlas support?

Leela Atlas is available in English and in Russian, where the game is known as Лила. Each language is written natively, not translated word by word, so that the squares and questions sound natural to the people who read them. You can play in English at /play and in Russian at /play?lang=ru.

How do plans and sign-in work?

There is a Free plan, a pay-per-game option and an Unlimited plan. You sign in with a code sent to your e-mail or with a passkey; there are no passwords.

How can you contact us?

Write to [email protected]. We read every message, whether it is a question about the rules, a suggestion for a square, a request from a guide or a note about a journey that meant something to you.

Questions