India is the birthplace of both chess and shampoo. Chess originated as chaturanga in ancient India around the 6th century, and the practice and term “shampoo” derive from the Hindi/Urdu “chāmpo,” with hair-cleansing traditions documented from the Indian subcontinent and later commercialized elsewhere.
Chess
- The earliest form of chess, called chaturanga, arose in India during the Gupta period and later spread to Persia as shatranj before reaching the Islamic world and Europe.
- Modern accounts consistently trace chess’s origin to India, with key concepts and pieces reflecting divisions of ancient Indian armies before evolving into today’s rules and forms.
Shampoo
- The word “shampoo” comes from the Hindi/Urdu “chāmpo,” associated with massage and hair-washing practices from the Indian subcontinent that were later introduced to Europe by traders in the 18th–19th centuries.
- Historical overviews note Indian-origin hair-cleaning preparations and techniques long predating Western commercial formulations that emerged only in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
