“Round and Round the Houses: the Game of Parchisi” Figure 3:11.

A pair of parchisi pieces, described as “matronly”, are made of intricately decorated carved ivory and wood.  The matrons skirts are hallowed to house small metal shavings that were made to rattle when the pieces were moved. Money, resources, and unique design techniques were employed in creating these parchisi pieces.  Insinuating ownership by a wealthier family. The corresponding description is actually what stuck me about these pieces. The parchisi pieces are currently housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, thus implying that, beyond being pieces of an enduring prominent pass-time, these matronly figures are perceived by modern scholars as  pieces of art.  Modern game pieces, of cardboard or plastic, are not likely to make the displays of future generations’ art museums.  Labeling the parchisi pieces as art makes their story more intricate, portraying even more greatly the games prominence at the time of their creation.  Parchisi was not just a frivolous distraction from ordinary life, to use the language of Huizinga, but an intensely important aspect of India’s ancestral cultural identity.