Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1915- ongoing (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
1 archival folder
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Henry Beveridge was born on 9th February 1837. He completed his education at Glasgow University and Queen's College, Belfast, before applying for the Indian Civil Service and he was posted to Bengal in 1857, serving in various posts until 1893. He married Annette Susanna Ackroyd, a graduate of Bedford College and translator of Persian and Turki text. Beveridge, himself, had many publications including The District of Bakarganj, The Trials of maharaja Nanda Kumar: A Narrative of a Judicial Murder and he was the editor for Alexander Rogers' TheThe Tūzuk-i-Jahāngīrī, or, Memoirs of Jahāngīr. They had two children, Annette Jeanie (d. 1956), and a son, William Beveridge (1879–1963), a noted economist who gave his name to the report associated with the foundation of the welfare state. Beveridge retired with his wife to England in 1893 but continued to be interested in Moghul history including returning to India in 1899 to search for historical manuscripts. He died on 8th November 1929.
Name of creator
Name of creator
Administrative history
The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland was founded by the eminent Sanskrit scholar Sir Henry Thomas Colebrooke on the 15th March 1823. It received its Royal Charter from King George IV on the 11th August 1824 'for the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encouragement of science, literature and the arts in relation to Asia'. It continues as a forum for those who are interested in the languages, cultures and history of Asia to meet and exchange ideas.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
The Society possesses two versions of the Indian game of snakes and ladders, RAS Cat.051.001 by a Maharashtra artist reflecting a Hindu interpretation, c.1800, and RAS Cat. 064.001, by an Ajmer artist, c.1810 reflecting a Sufi interpretation. The material concerning these is:
- Correspondence from Henry Beveridge to Oliver Codrington, Royal Asiatic Society Librarian, concerning the 'serpents and ladders' diagrams in the Society's collections, the interpretation of the Persian inscription on the Sufi version, 'Gyan Chauser', and an equivalent work in the British Museum. Handwritten, 5 pieces, dated 23-31 July 1915.
- 'Miscellaneous Communications' - offprint from the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, July 1916 with F.E. Pargiter's articles, 'Map of the Earth' concerning the Jambudvipa, Jain map of the universe (see RAS COLL5/7/3) and 'An Indian Game: Heaven of Hell' concerning RAS Cat.051.001. Also a later photocopy of the chart of the game.
- A copy of two pages from 'The Indian Game of Snakes and Ladders' by Andrew Topsfield, Artibus Asiae, 1985, relating to the Muslim (Sufi) game in the Society's collection.
- 'The Indian Game of Snakes and Ladders, and What Happened to it, Part I' by Irving L. Finkel which quotes from both Pargiter and Topsfield, undated.
- 'Cobras and ladders...game that was all the rage in the Raj' by Christ Hastings concerning the launch of the Digital Library of the Society on which the Snakes and Ladders game is featured. The Mail on Sunday, 18 February 2018.