Indian kushti is considered the predecessor of all wrestling. It is undergoing a revival despite the tug-of-war between tradition and modernity
It’s 4:30 in the afternoon. The merciless sun above Haryana starts to sink towards the mirage-like blur of the horizon. The unbearable heat begins to give in, and life slowly crawls back out of its lethargy into the chaotic streets of this state in northwest India.
This is the time that a group of local wrestlers have been eagerly waiting for. They travel by motorcycle or auto rickshaw – the three-wheeler used as a taxi – to an isolated building in the middle of a road about 70 kilometres from the national capital, Delhi.
They enter the simple Akhara – the fighting arena where they will wrestle one another in the same way that their ancestors had done before them.
“Nobody can precisely trace the origins of kushti”, Mohit Saroha, lawyer for the Kushti Association of India, claims. “Some say it dates back three thousand years, while most will settle the origins at around the 5th century BC. It was called malla-yuddha before, and it spread rapidly across South Asia after the establishment of the Mughal Empire” (between the 16th and 18th centuries). Despite this debate on the origins of the sport, nobody in India disputes that kushti is the predecessor of all wrestling styles practiced today. “It has evolved to become Greco-Roman and modern free-style wrestling, but these are still kushti at heart”, adds Deepak Ansuia Prasad, a former wrestler and one of the most knowledgeable journalists covering the sport.
Forged in tradition
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der PASSPORT 2016 - 2017-Ausgabe von ASIAN Geographic.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der PASSPORT 2016 - 2017-Ausgabe von ASIAN Geographic.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
Revealed Doctor Yellow
Japan Railways' special lemony Shinkansen is a rare sight to behold
The Mighty Yellow
Over 5,000 kilometres long and flowing through nine provinces and autonomous regions, the Yellow River is China's second largest, after the Yangtze, while its basin is deemed the cradle of Chinese civilisation
Wildlife Big Yellow Beauty
The popular "amelanistic" form of the Burmese python is considered among the most beautiful snakes - if that's your sort of thing
All That Glitters Is Gold
From Turkey to China, the yellow metal plays a central role in cultural practices and is coveted as a symbol of affluence and status
Chengdu Hotel Spotlight TRIKA TSANG INTERNATIONAL HOTEL
For an authentic taste of Tibet in the heart of Chengdu, the most luxurious option is the majestic Trika Tsang International Hotel.
Conservation Yellow in Peril
While the demand for use in traditional Chinese medicine is putting seahorses under pressure, it is damaging non-selective fishing that is driving depletion
History Spiritual Rebirth
During the Spanish Golden Age, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan achieved the first European navigation to Asia via the Pacific, arriving in the Philippines in 1521 and claiming the islands for Spain. But by converting the first Filipinos to Catholicism, Magellan also instigated the Christianisation of the entire archipelago, a spiritual rebirth celebrated through the two most important festivals in the Philippines - Fiesta Señor and Sinulog.
Green Dreams
With its tea plantations and rice paddies, dense jungles and expansive forests, the region is well known as a green paradise. But many of the most impressive Asian landscapes have names you may never have heard of. Journey with us as we reveal just some of the incredible locations that make the rest of the world green with envy!
Life On The Edge
In the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, in the remote northern Russian Far East, indigenous ethnic groups like the Chukchi and the Yupik live in the most extreme conditions, hunting seals in their traditional kayaks as they have for millennia
The Karakoram Anomaly Decoded
For decades, scientists have believed that glaciers in the Karakoram Range are defying the trend of those across the globe-resisting glacial melt due to human-induced global warming. But as we trek up the Karakoram's second-longest glacier in July, as the United Nations announces the world's hottest ever month on record, does the melting ice beneath our feet suggest the so-called Karakoram Anomaly is slowing? Or is there a ray of hope it will continue to delay the inevitable?