# What is Leela? The game of self-knowledge explained

Leela is an Indian board game of self-knowledge with 72 squares, each naming a state of being. Ten arrows (virtues) lift the player and ten snakes (vices) pull him down, while a die moves a personal token. The aim is to land on square 68, Cosmic Consciousness. Leela is the ancestor of Snakes and Ladders.

## What does the word Leela mean?

Leela, also spelled Lila, comes from the Sanskrit līlā, "divine play". In Indian thought the world itself is a play of the divine, in which the One appears as many. The game takes this idea literally: the player enters the play, forgets, remembers, falls and rises, and finally returns to where he began.

The name Leela for this board comes from Harish Johari, who published Leela: The Game of Self-Knowledge in 1975, reissued in 2007 as The Yoga of Snakes and Arrows. In Russian-speaking countries the game is known as Лила.

## What are Gyan Chaupar and Moksha Patam?

They are the older Indian names for the same family of games. Gyan chaupar (also jnan chauper) is Hindi for "game of knowledge": jñāna means knowledge and caupaṛ a dice game. Moksha patam means "ladder" or "board of liberation". Other regions had their own versions: gyanbazi among the Jains of Gujarat and Rajasthan, Paramapadam in Tamil Nadu, nagapasha in Nepal, and a Sufi "chess of the gnostics".

Leela follows the Vaishnava 72-square board of North India, whose goal at square 68 is Vaikuntha, the abode of Vishnu.

## What does the Leela board look like?

The board has 72 squares in eight rows of nine. It is numbered in a serpentine from square 1 at the bottom left: the first row runs left to right, the second right to left, and so on, so square 72 sits at the top left and 68 in the top centre.

The middle column is what Johari calls "the spine of the game board". It holds the seven lokas, or planes, plus Vaikuntha: 5 Physical plane, 14 Astral plane, 23 Celestial plane, 32 Plane of balance, 41 Human plane, 50 Plane of austerity, 59 Plane of reality and 68 Cosmic Consciousness. The top row closes with the three gunas: 70 sattva (true nature), 71 rajas (activity) and 72 tamas (inertia).

## How do the rows match the chakras?

Johari reads the eight rows as the body's energy centres, climbing from the base of the spine to beyond the crown. Each row is a chapter of the journey.

| Row | Squares | Johari's title | Chakra |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 to 9 | The Fundamentals of Being | Muladhara (base of spine), earth |
| 2 | 10 to 18 | The Realm of Fantasy | Svadhisthana, water |
| 3 | 19 to 27 | The Theater of Karma | Manipura (navel), fire |
| 4 | 28 to 36 | Attaining Balance | Anahata (heart), air |
| 5 | 37 to 45 | Man Becomes Himself | Vishuddha (throat), ether |
| 6 | 46 to 54 | The Time of Penance | Ajna (third eye) |
| 7 | 55 to 63 | The Plane of Reality | Sahasrara (crown) |
| 8 | 64 to 72 | The Gods Themselves | Beyond the chakras |

## Why are arrows virtues and snakes vices?

In Leela an arrow begins on a virtue and carries the player up to the state it opens: Purification (10) leads to the Celestial plane (23), Selfless service (27) to the Human plane (41), Conscience (46) to Happiness (62). A snake begins on a vice and drops the player to the state it produces: Envy (12) to Avarice (8), Egotism (55) to Anger (3), Darkness (63) all the way to Illusion (2).

Johari calls the arrows dharmas and the snakes adharmas, but he does not treat the snakes as punishments. Each one teaches something; envy, he writes, "helps the player to purify his thought process". Seven of the ten snakes end in the first row, which is why every fall returns the player to one of the basic passions.

## Why does a Leela game start with a question?

Johari's own rules contain the board, the die, a personal symbol, the commentaries and a written record. The practice of opening with a question or intention grew later, mainly in the Russian-speaking schools, and it is now how most people play.

A good question keeps responsibility with you and stays open: "What is preventing me from...?" or "What do I need to understand about...?" Each square you land on then becomes a prompt about that question. The die stands for karma, the token for you, and the way you read each square is entirely your own.

## Why is 68 the goal?

Square 68 is Cosmic Consciousness, Vaikuntha-loka, the abode of Vishnu. It sits between 67 (Shiva's plane of cosmic good) and 69 (Brahma's Absolute plane), forming the divine triad at the top of the board. Every player starts there, "unborn", and the game ends when he lands on it exactly.

There are two ways in: an exact count, or the arrow of Spiritual Devotion from 54, the only arrow that reaches the goal. Right knowledge (45) lifts the player to 67, one square short. Johari's image is the drop returning to the ocean.

## FAQ

**Is Leela a Hindu game?**
Leela follows the Vaishnava 72-square board, a Hindu tradition, and its squares draw on Hindu ideas such as the lokas, the gunas and Vaikuntha. Related boards existed among Jains, Sufis, Tibetan Buddhists and in Tamil Nadu. Today people of any background play it as a tool for reflection on their own lives.

**How many squares, arrows and snakes does Leela have?**
Harish Johari's Leela board has 72 squares in eight rows of nine, ten arrows and ten snakes. Other traditional boards differ: Jain boards usually have 84 squares, Sufi boards 100, and some rare boards several hundred. The 72-square board is the one most widely played today.

**Who created Leela?**
No single person invented the game of knowledge; the oldest surviving boards date from the eighteenth century. The modern version was published by Harish Johari, an Indian author, artist and scholar, in 1975. He based his board on a Vaishnava chart and wrote a commentary for each square.

**What does it mean to be unborn in Leela?**
At the start every token waits on square 68, Cosmic Consciousness. The player is unborn until he throws a six, which brings him in through 1 Genesis to 6 Delusion. The image is of a soul entering life and forgetting its origin, then making its way back.