Demala diviyan keliya

Lore & Background

The game's board consists of an isosceles triangle divided into four triangular compartments by two line segments from the apex to the base, intersected breadth-wise by a rectangle split into two rectangles, creating 21 intersection points. The three leopard pieces and fifteen dog pieces are distinguishable. Players decide who plays leopards and who plays dogs. The fifteen dog pieces are set beside the board initially. Henry Parker, who described the game in his 1909 book Ancient Ceylon: An Account of the Aborigines and of Part of the Early Civilisation, explicitly states that the board starts empty and that the three leopards are placed on three specific points at the start of the game.

Reader's Guide

Demala diviyan keliya is significant as a traditional hunt game from Sri Lanka, reflecting regional strategic play. Its rules involve alternating turns: dogs drop pieces onto vacant points until all fifteen are placed, then they may move; leopards may move or capture dogs by short leap over an adjacent dog to a vacant point beyond, with only one capture per turn. Captures are not compulsory. Dogs win by trapping all three leopards so they cannot move or capture; leopards win by capturing enough dogs to prevent being trapped. The game's age is unknown, but its documentation by H. Parker in 1909 preserves it for historical study. It is related to other hunt games like Pulijudam, Len Choa, and Hat diviyan keliya, and remains known in Southern India under the Tamil leopards' game name and Hindustani name Rafāya.

Did You Know?

• The game is also known as the Tamil leopards' game.
• The board has 21 intersection points.
• The game was described by H. Parker in his 1909 book Ancient Ceylon.