Snakes and Ladders Essay

576 Words3 Pages
Not many people conceptualize that we are taught morality through everyday practices. Subliminally, what we know to be “morally correct” is mostly determined by our everyday actions. Such things like books, movies, magazines, and even game boards potentially determine our moral perameters, which in turn plays a huge roll in religion, and overall society. “Snakes and Ladders” is a board game which holds it’s roots in India, in a time around 300ce. . By 1943, “Snakes and Ladders” had finally commercialized here in the United Stares. However, it holds a very different meaning in India than it does domestically. In India, “Snakes and Ladders” was refered to as “paramapada sopaanam”, or the ladder to salvation. The Hindu historic version has it’s root in lessons of intracaite morality, where a player's progression up the board represented a life journey complicated by virtues and vices. It’s plottwisting game features vices, or snakes which make you go back spaces, and virtures, which are ladders that advance you in the game. These features teach young kids the foundation of Hindu values which they carry throughout their entire lives. For example, the ladder connects two squares with moral actions inside of them. The square “work” ultimatly leads to the square, “happiness”. Because the ladders are good, the children not only associate that work brings you happiness, but they also infer that these are good traits for charecter. Contrastly, a snake’s squares attach “ego” to “jealously” and “darkness” to “lies”. These of which are associated with negative character traits, and overall, a insufficient and unfullfilling life.The messages of Hinduism throughout “Snakes and ladders is seen most evidently through one of the main Hindu beliefs, or dharma. Dharma, can be described as right conduct, righteousness, moral law, and duty. Anyone who makes dharma central to
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