Bicep curls at a garadi mane

Traditional wrestling schools are a relic from the early 1900s. DH journalist Pranati A S visits two such spaces in Bengaluru and learns how they are adapting to modern times.

Hidden in the lanes of Bengaluru’s Aralepete (Cottonpet) is Dodda Garadi Mane, a traditional Indian gym also known as an akhada or a garadi mane. The story of this garadi mane dates back to 1680. It was here that a few sadhus practised yoga and meditation, but back then it was nothing more than a shack. It is believed that Mysore ruler Hyder Ali too trained here. 

Surrounded by peepal and fig trees, this wrestlers’ abode was quaint and peaceful. A huge mural of the Hindu god Hanuman adorned a wall in the courtyard. “Anjaneya is a symbol of strength and power. People pray to him before commencing practice,” said Purushottam K who runs the akhada now. 

Once in the courtyard, the chaos of the pete seemed far away. Inside, weights were stacked on one side and the other end was covered in mud. But it was not plain mud. Turmeric, vermillion (kumkuma), ghee, castor oil, neem oil, beech tree oil, and peanut oil are mixed with red soil (kemmannu) to create an antiseptic mixture. After practice, the wrestler or practitioner rolls over the mud and applies it on his body. The mud absorbs all the sweat and prevents skin diseases. Kushti, the traditional Indian form of wrestling, is also practised and performed on this mud. 

Purushottam, who is also a teacher at Dodda Garadi, taught me how to lift a mudgal, a weighted wooden club that I had seen in films. The movement was similar to weighted halos. Now, because a mudgal is longer, it did not seem as heavy as a kettlebell with which I usually practise this movement at the gym. The stone ring was quite heavy. Although I could lift it up, I couldn’t perform the intended movement — isolated weighted curls, a bicep exercise. It was too heavy. 

Two kallu gundus (spherical stones) were kept as an offering in front of the Hanuman mural. “They’re very old. I don’t allow the boys to lift them,” said Purushottam. The rest of the weights were your regular dumbbells and barbells. Tiger walking and skipping are some of the other exercises that are included in the fitness regimen. 

The number of people visiting the garadi has reduced, he said. “People come in the morning, sweep the place, apply oil on their body and start practising. Just loading the soil from one side of the pit to the other using a hoe (haare in Kannada) is a good enough workout for beginners,” he shared. 

Boys enrol in Purushottam’s akhada as soon as they complete grade 10. They offer a gurudakshine (monetary offering given to teachers by students). A langoti (loin cloth) is made for them. Puja is performed before wearing it for practice. “Wrestling is not as popular as it once was,” he said, recalling a time when the courtyard was brimming with people. “Now, the pete area is mostly occupied by businessmen who are not aware of the garadi mane. The natives of the pete have moved out but some of them still send their children for practice,” said Purushottam. A few minutes ago, he was convincing a mother to send her son back to the facility for practice. He had developed muscle pain after training and was hesitant to return. 

City’s oldest akhada 

The fact that Dodda Garadi has been here for about 344 years is impressive. Per records, sadhus had put up a shack to practise yoga and meditation. In 1911, it is believed that the sadhus donated the place to 10 people from different communities of the pete and left. They had perhaps been prompted to do so after seeing Guru Pahalwan Gopal Mahandat train others in the area. He had arrived in Bangalore from Kanpur recently. Between 1911 and 1927, many people practised wrestling in the garadi mane. In 1927, the headman of the pete, Borelingappa, along with his sister’s son Pahalwan Thimmarayappa and other prominent names from communities like the Balijas, Lingayats, Hoovadigas and Vokkaligas set up the garadi mane as it stands now. Mahandat became the akhada’s teacher. His family still lives in Bengaluru’s Frazer Town. 

Thimmarayappa’s son, Kempanna, was also a prominent wrestler from the garadi. He renovated it in 1975. Purushottam who runs the space now is Kempanna’s brother. “Pahalwans from the north stayed here and participated in kushtis (wrestling matches) in Devanahalli, Mysuru and surrounding areas,” he added. Sambhaji Pawar from Sangli, Syed Murab from Bhadravathi, and Nagappa from Chitradurga, are some of the names he recalled. Puttmallanna, Bannappa and Huchappa were prominent wrestlers from Dodda Garadi. 

Purushottam recalls there was once a tiff between two groups in the garadi. To resolve the fight, the then pete headman constructed another akhada in the neighbourhood. This akhada came to be known as the Chikka Garadi Mane. 

The events between 1680 and 1911 are not recorded. It is believed that Hyder Ali and his army would also work out in the Dodda Garadi. “There are a lot of unauthenticated urban legends that are nice to hear. This is one such story but we don’t know for sure if it’s true,” quipped Aliyeh Rizvi, a place-based history writer. 

According to Rizvi, there is no authenticated evidence-based understanding of how the akhadas emerged in the pete area. “One explanation is that during the militarisation of the pete, during the Maratha rule in the 17th century (1600s), physical fitness and bodybuilding became essential to the military culture. Soldiers occupied the pete at the time,” she added. In the 1500s, as a market town, the focus was more on urban settlement and trading. Slowly, military significance grew under the Marathas and the Mughal garrison. “As we can see from city history, this continued all the way up to 19th century (1800s). It is likely that when the militarisation happened, the culture of bodybuilding for the soldiers in the pete had become dominant,” she said. 

The akhada and garadi culture is ancient, said Rizvi referring to the ‘Manasollasa’, a 12th century Sanskrit text where physical games and exercises find a mention. It was written by the Kalyani Chalukya king Someshvara III.

Kayangadi Pappanna

Massage centres, orthopaedics and physiotherapists are attached to gyms even today. Mansoor Ali, of Bengaluru by Foot, which organises heritage walks in the city, talks about an old bone-setting centre. “Ustad Kayangadi Pappanna, a wrestler who was also a physiotherapist to the Mysore Wodeyars, was known for offering massage and bone-setting services,” he said. He used traditional ayurvedic medicines and oils. In 1860, he set up the massage and bone-setting facility in the pete area. The wrestlers of the akhadas would stop by to fix fractures and sprains. Kayangadi Pappanna is famous to this day for their bone-setting techniques. Celebrities like Kannada film personality Dr Rajkumar were also treated here. 

Biriyani and mutton chops at Ustad Kaale Bhai Akhada.

Wodeyar patronage

Once upon a time in Trichy, there
lived an arrogant wrestler who left his chaddi (underwear) hanging on the fort gate. People walking in and out of the fort had to pass under it. This news reached king Kanthirava Narasaraja I (1615-1659), also known as Ranadheera Kantirava, of the Wodeyar dynasty. Enraged, the king went in disguise to Trichy to defeat the wrestler. A wrestler himself, Kanthirava Narasaraja I was a great patron of the akhadas. The soldiers of the Mysuru kingdom were also trained in akhadas. 

Today, the garadi mane culture is more prominent in Mysuru than in Bengaluru. The Vijayadashami celebrations (last day of Dasara) commence with the vajramushti kalaga (diamond fist duel) in the courtyard of the Mysuru palace. The king makes his first public appearance on this day after nine days of continuous rituals.

According to Ali, the match concludes after a drop of blood from the opponent’s scalp falls to the ground. “Earlier buffaloes were sacrificed. After a ban on animal sacrifice, they indulge in this kushti and the blood is offered to the goddess,” he said. This has been practised since the 1600s. 

K V Iyer, physiotherapist to the maharaja of Mysore in the early 1900s, wrote the earliest subscription catalogues and booklets about the bodybuilding culture. He was also known worldwide for his body and his bodybuilding techniques. “He was instrumental in the development and growth of the culture in the pete area,” said Rizvi. 

Bengaluru Karaga 

Interestingly, the veerakumaras of the Thigala community are trained in these garadi manes, even today. It is one of the oldest communities of the city, which celebrates the Karaga festival to honour goddess Draupadi. “There are specific garadi manes that are attached to the Karaga and the veerakumaras as well as the Karaga bearer are trained in the garadi manes,” said Rizvi. The Kunjanna Garadi Mane next to the Dharmarayaswamy temple and Bale Garadi in Balepet, where the Karaga is commemorated, also train the veerakumaras for the special night.

The Karaga bearers from the Yellamma temple in Cottonpet are trained at Dodda Garadi, said Purushottam.

Underworld clients

“By the 1980s, these garadi manes became notorious for associating with the underworld,” said Ali. Rowdy sheeters M P Jayaraj and Kotwal Ramachandra were patrons of the Kunjappar Garadi near the Dharmarayaswamy temple in Tigalarapete. Purushottam said Jayaraj was a great pahalwan and had also visited Dodda Garadi. 

Wrestling matches

Wrestling matches usually happened in Mysuru and in Bengaluru in Sharieff Garden and Sree Kanteerava Stadium respectively. Fayaz, Kashmiri Mehboob, Googa Pahalwan, Sardar and Chota Chudi are some of the pahalwans from the Cantonment area, said Purushottam. “Now the number of matches have come down. The most recent match was at Kohinoor grounds in Gavipuram Extension,” he shared. Many matches happen around the Mysuru area. 

In Purushottam’s younger days, matches were usually held in universities. A wrestler would have to participate in about nine matches to win at the university level and further compete in the All India Nationals, he recalled. 

Milk, almonds, vegetables, eggs, fish and country chicken is the diet prescribed for students. Red meat is not recommended because of its high cholesterol level. However, mutton paya (lamb trotters) soup is included in the diet because it improves the collagen in the joints. Broiler chicken and farm-grown lamb are strictly avoided. 

Purushottam said Aamir Khan’s ‘Dangal’ is the only film that is an authentic representation of the akhada and wrestling culture. The film, to a certain extent, has promoted akhada training among both girls and boys. “In Salman Khan’s ‘Sultan’ and Sudeep’s ‘Pailwan’, garadis are just shown for the sake of it,” he said. 

Striving to survive

The Ustad Kaale Bhai Akhada (120 years old) in Shivajinagar turns into a restaurant in the afternoons. The place has practice sessions in the mornings and evenings. Ali raved about the mutton biriyani which is on the menu only on Fridays and Sundays. I decided to visit on a Friday. Tables and chairs are set up in the workout area. A pit full of mud is on the other side of the akhada. I tried the Dakhni mutton biriyani and two types of chops — tawa chops, a dry preparation and chatpata chops, fried. The mutton was soft and tender, cooked to perfection with the right balance of spices. Pahalwan Kale Khadir Ahmed Qureshi, who runs the garadi now, said they started the mess about 30 years ago. “We don’t charge the students who come here to learn and practise wrestling. So we decided to open the kitchen to the public to help pay rent and electricity bills,” he said. The space was once a temple area, which was later donated. Since 1926, Qureshi’s family has been paying rent. “Corporate employees and tourists are frequent visitors. Women visitors are rare,” said Qureshi, who is a fourth-generation wrestler. 

The pahalwani handi or the wrestlers’ meal which is rich in butter, ghee and fatty mutton is not cooked everyday. But it is back on the menu during Ramzan.

Role of the body builder

Rizvi said, “At one point, the body was seen as a tool for warfare. That’s how soldiers used their bodies. When the idea of the akhada gained prominence, the body also became sacred.” Traditionally, a body builder dedicated his body to the akhada. He lived there and took a vow of celibacy and abstinence. 

In the early 1900s, when nationalistic fervour was gaining in the country, Gama Pahelwan, a wrestler who hailed from Amritsar, went to England and challenged many wrestlers there. “He came back undefeated. Overnight, the body builder became famous and bodybuilding was integrated with the nationalistic movement,” Rizvi added. 

Over a period of time, with the emergence of modern gyms, the culture of bodybuilding gradually changed. The people trained in these akhadas now become bouncers and collection agents, and take up any occupation where muscle power is required, said Rizvi. 

“The garadi was considered a sacred space at one point. Today it remains a sacred space for those who occupy it but maybe there is a question of how it is viewed by the people outside and how the traditional wrestlers and their body is looked at in today’s world,” Rizvi concluded.