Colourful stories behind playful Kings, Queens, Knaves
Though the country derecognised princes in 1971, millions of Indians continue to hobnob with royalty.
Chances are that you too have met King David of Israel, Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, and the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne.
You’ve also come across Pallas Athena, the ancient Greek goddess of learning, Judith, the biblical heroine, Rachel, another biblical notable, and the enigmatic Arigne, which could be an anagram for Regina, meaning Queen.
You are acquainted with Hector the Trojan warrior, Lancelot of King Arthur’s Round Table, Le Hire, a French knight of legendary fame, and Ogier, one of Charlemagne’s foremost soldiers.
If you play any game involving cards, you come across all these personages. The King of Spades represents King David, the King of Hearts is Charlemagne, that of Diamonds is Caesar, and of Clubs, Alexander.
Similarly, the Queens of Spades, Hearts, Diamonds and Clubs respectively are Athena Judith, Rachel and Regina.
The Jacks or Knaves or Knights as they came to be called, are Lancelot (Clubs), Hector (Diamonds), Le Hire (hearts), and Ogier (Spades).
Said to have originated in the 7th century in China, cards made their way along the trade routes to Persia and India before reaching Europe around the 14th century, when the picture cards were endowed with their biblical and European provenance.
Originally, hand-painted, cards were very expensive and reserved only for the wealthy. With the invention of block printing in China in the 9th century, they could be cheaply produced and became affordable for common folk, which spread their popularity despite their being viewed censoriously by straitlaced authority, which banned card playing on working days as being an undesirable distraction from keeping one’s nose to the industrious grindstone.
Card players, however, had the last laugh by the American invention of the Joker in 1868, the name being a mispronunciation of the game of euchre in which it was used and which could outrank even Kings and Queens.
And true to its innovative tradition, the US has now devised an all-powerful super Joker that truly could be called a Trump card.
Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
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