Kavyalankara
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kâvyâlankâra (Meaning: The ornaments of poetry) is the earliest Indian knight's tour is that given on a half-chessboard in the verse work by the Kashmirian poet Rudrata, ascribed to the reign of Sankaravarman, 884 – 903. He also gives a simple boustrophedonal rook tour and a sawtooth elephant tour.
According to H. J. R. Murray's A History of Chess (1913, pp.53-55), our knowledge of this work comes from a commentary by Nami of Guzerat (1069) and analysis by H. Jacobi (1896). The tour of the knight (known as turaga = horse) and the tours by rook and elephant, were apparently presented by a series of syllables on the squares which make sense when read in the sequence of the tour. Murray maintains that the verse also makes sense when read normally; this may be true for the simpler tours, but seems very difficult to achieve in the case of the knight's tour.
Rudrata's knight tour can be repeated on the lower half of the board so as to give a complete though not closed tour. A diagram showing it in this form, reflected left to right, appears in “a Persian manuscript of the early 19th century probably compiled in Northern India”, described by George Walker (1844). Another version, in which the half-board tour is rotated 180° on the lower board and slightly modified to join to the upper half appears in the Manasollasa of Somesvara III, described by F. Bernhauer, “Der Rösselsprung im Manasollasa”, Aus dem wissenschaftlichen Leben des Südasien-Instituts (1997).
[edit] References
1. Early History of Knight's Tours; and Chronology of Knight's Tours
2. For more on recreating Knight's tour based on letters or words, please refer to: Literary tours
