Ups And Downs

I came across an interesting article in the newspaper about this game:
Long before Snakes and Ladders was invented, India had a similar board game called Vaikuntapaali or Paramapada Sopanam (the ladder to salvation). The game has an unwritten message — that life is full of ups (ladders) and downs (snakes), pleasure and pain. And that every human being has to go through success and failure, youth and old age and finally die only to be born again.
In this game every time a snake swallows a player he reaches the tail, which is death. He replays and goes up a ladder — this is life again. The play also has a moral — life is temporary just like happiness and sorrow. It passes away, therefore concentrate on the permanent — that is on God who lives in your own soul. The game board has132 squares arranged in a serial order from the bottom on your left. There are different pictures on each block. They denote a living creature — animals, birds and men and they stand as a symbol. For example, the picture of a rishi (hermit) in block No 30 stands for nishta (concentration). Some squares have human qualities like Ego (Square No. 75), infatuation (Moham No. 97). Once the victor reaches the 132nd square (the last), the right number has to fall to "reach God." Until he does so, he would be limping from one dwarapalak to another. Once he gets the right number to reach the Virat swaroopa, he wins the game!