A visit to Guru Hanuman Akhara, Delhi

I was in Delhi and I visited to a famous akhara of india. It's the heaven of wrestlers
. This akhara name is Guru Hanuman akhara, which is situated at Guru Hanuman Road,  Shakti Nagar Delhi.
I reached at there with my good friend Somdutt Sharma And Anuj Vashishth who are lover of indian traditional sports, both are from Haryana.

We reached at  there Around 2pm and it was the time of rest for wrestler but I was from Varanasi and it was my last staying day so I requested to a senior wrestler to see only the akhara around and he invited to enter to us inside of their rest-hall in which about 60-70 handsome and young wrestler were taking rest. Because I was from Varanasi so a senior wrestler introduced about Neeraj to us who is also from Varanasi.

In an interview with wrestler Neeraj talks about sports, wrestling, his personal life and ambitions.
Here is a few questions which I asked to him.

Me: Tell me something about your initial days, how do you see your journey so far?

Neeraj: I had a very humble beginning. We belong to a wrestler family and my Father is a wrestling coach in Gaya Seth Akhara name wrestler Foolchand So it was tough initially. Today I try very hard to get a best performance.

Me: Does your family support you initially or you took wrestling because of some inspiration?

Neeraj: As I said, we have a very humble beginning. Here I would like to mention my guru, my role model -- My father Mr. Foolchand. He is the man behind my success.

Me: What about training your schedule. How do you train yourself and keep yourself fit ?

Neeraj: I wake up at 4 a.m. in the morning. I exercise and train with my colleagues and Gurus till 8 a.m. About fitness, I train a lot and as I belong to a wrestler’s family, we do not take tea, coffee or alcohol. Rather we rely on milk, ghee, nuts, green vegetables, it keeps you fit and young.

Me: What is your take on wrestling in India?
Neeraj: The position of wrestling was not that good initially. But after Sushil Kumar achievement in Beijing Olympics and Commonwealth Games, it has improved a lot. Now people have started giving respect to wrestlers.

Me: How do you see cricket vs other games?

Neeraj: First of all congratulations to you for promoting sports apart from cricket. I do not have much problem with cricket, but I must say government should treat every game equally. I will only say every game deserves equal attention.

Me: What are your future plans? How you would like too see your self 5-10 years from now?

Neeraj:I am proud of being the national level for the national team. I am 66 kg. I am going to give my best wishes to the Olympiad and the Commonwealth games will give me a lot of time to join the team.
I would like to win the Gold medal for my Nation.

Me: Do you swing the Jori for practice?

Neeraj: No, I don't do this but I know that it is a best source for improve stamina and grips.

At the end of this post, attattaching few images here with.

Please text to me through E-Mail to gyanshankul@gmail.com
You make catch to me on Facebook https://m.facebook.com/Gyan-Indian-Jori-689680561393897/

I am waiting for your fast Comment and valuable suggestions and advices.

    

Buy A pair of Indian jori clubs Or Mugdar

Although many of us know the Exercise Tool, the right use of which helps all of us physically, but not undoubtedly mentally.
Let me tell you, using an exercise technique that is related to Indian tradition, you can strengthen yourself in many ways.

Today, I am going to tell you about the pair of Indian jori or Mugadr, all of you will definitely help in creating a healthy body.

Advantages of swinging Indian Jori or Mugdar:

1. It awesome for stamina and power

2. It make a powerful triceps, biceps and shoulder

3. Improves grip strength like nothing else

4. Develops a extremely strong core

5. Weight loss and fat loss made easier

6. Improves overall flexibility and mobility, especially in the shoulder region

7. Develops a very strong back targeting, traps, lats, rhomboids, erector spinae muscles and all the way down to strong glutes

8. Great for folks with heart condition and blood pressure people, but only light weight up to 10kg

There is great advantage for many sports to adopt the practice of Jori swinging which will help better performance and prevent injury.

Please check this video and try to get an idea that how to swing correctly. 

https://youtu.be/qq2g1uENb2Y

So you’re willing to try Indian jori or Mugdar but you are not sure what type and weight is best suited for you. This guide is for you!
There are many types of Joris out there, and nobody likes to fork some money out to find out they bought something not relevant to their needs…

According to me Up to 10 kg each of jori pair is sufficient weight to swing for a beginner.
If anyone is interested to buy a pair of Indian jori orMugdar,  Please text to me through E-Mail to gyanshankul@gmail.com

You make catch to me on Facebook https://m.facebook.com/Gyan-Indian-Jori-689680561393897/

I am waiting for your fast Comment and valuable suggestions and advices. 

INDIAN JORI AND GADA OF VARANASI

                                     INDIAN JORI AND GADA OF VARANASI



We know that the Sport is very important for our life but if it combines or mentions about a tradition culture then it becomes more important for that particular group of person or the country. 
Here, in India , there are a lot of traditional games e.g. kabaddi , kushti, archery, rowing , jori swinging and gada swinging, naal lifting etc, but  I (Gyanshankul well known as Pratyay)  always try to write and know about Indian jori and gada, 

These are not an exercise tool but also a spritual and valuable thing for Indian. The pahalwaan does the worship of these tool before swinging it. 

According to myth " The mace or gada carried on the right hand of Hanuman is a symbol of self -independence, ability of governance and the power to rule. The mace or gada carried ont he right hand of Hanuman is a symbol of self-independence, ability of governance and the power to rule. When Hanuman gada is held in the right hand upraised position,it means that there is disorder and a guiding power is required to bring the situation to regularity.

 Lord Kubera presented the powerful Gada to Hanuman. Power and authority of this gada is menitioned throughout The Ramayana. Bheem, Ravana,Shani Dev...no one could defeat it. Even it is said that once Hanuman's gada saved Surath, the king of kashi, from the arrows of Shree Rama! The name Gada has a lot of history that comes along it. Gada was the name of a mighty asura (devil) who once brought much terror upon humanity but he could also be quite charitable. Gada never refused a request that was asked of him no matter how ridiculous the request might have been. Lord Vishnu disguised himself as a Brahmin and approached Gada. He requested Gada to lend his own bones to him. Gada ripped himself apart at the seams to deliver his bones to Vishnu. Vishnu then took these bones and created one of the grandest maces of all time. As it was created from the bones of Gada, the word Gada in hindu mythology came to permanently mean mace in Sanskrit.

one and best thing/perception about akharas that the lady is not allowed inside the akhara for swinging the jori and gada...sometimes it becomes a question for me, because if it denotes a sport then it should be allow to do swinging the jori or gada to girl (according to me the light weight gada or jori would be swing by them). I saw a pic of a stone in which it was refering that a lady keeps the gada in her right hand, when I try out to know about to that pic I was astonished to know that it was the pic of a goddess. She holds a chamara and looks in adoration toward her master, whose hand rests on her head. She wears a crown or has an elaborate hairstyle. Apart from a lower garment, she might wear a blouse or have a bare torso. She is depicted emerging from the gada!! the goddess is kaumodaki . kaumodaki is also known as gada-devi.

                                                (pic courtesy -paul taras wolkovinski)

every year on the occassion of naag panchami akharas organise the competition of jori and gada swinging in the akharas, in that competition pahalwaan comes from another akharas and compete to each other. the winner gets the safaa( the whiten cloth as turben which shows as a winner crown) and some times baalti (steel bucket) and cash and many more. there are four categories of the jori swinging competition in varanasi:
number 4- 20-22 kg each jori 
number 3- 25-27 kg each jori
number 2- 29-32 kh each jori
number 1- 35 kg and upwards in each jori

the joris are in just 3 types . first narrow second fat and third nail jori. in narrow indian jori you can see the heavy iron ring at the bottom which makes it more heavier and loadable which becomes harder to swing. second in fat jori you can find one or two iron rings or without the iron ring at the bottom, it is more harder because it could not be keep on shoulder or the support of chest because it makes load on wrist. the last one , the nail jori is very dangerous to swing because it keeps the nail on all the part of the jori in each . it swings without the touch of the shoulders.

the boys of the age of 16 to 22 they use the number 4 jori. although in these competition there are not rule of age and bodyweight but the new comer pahalwaan does fantastic swing because they becomes hero between the crowd of pahalwaan . they works in akhara in the running speed of Usain bolt.
really we all love to see to a youngster pahalwaan who swing the jori or gada in akhara.  joris and gadas are heavy clubs which wrestlers swing in order to strengthen their shoulders and arms.

 At raghunath maharaj akhara, akhara morchali bir, augharnath takiya, kali bari akhara, hanuman ji vyayamshala and in other akharas jori swinging is both a competitive sport and form of exercise. jori are always swung in pairs. Those used for exercise usually weigh between fifteen and twenty-five Kilograms each. They are curved of heavy wood and are weighted with bands of metal.In order to make the joris more difficult to swing, blades and nails are something hammered into them.
At the end of this article I want to mention about the some name of akahras of varanasi who really valuable for all .

1. Akhara kaali bari 
2. Akhara morchali beer 
3. Akhara raghunath maharaj
4. Akhara aughar nath takiya
5. Maha mrityunjay vyaayaamshalaa
6. Sher akhara (satsang akhara)
7. Laal kuti vyaayaamshaala
8. Sri sri hanuman ji vyaayaamshalaa
9. Karnghantaa vyaayaamshaala
10. badi gaibi akhara
11. chhoti gaibi akhara ( the akhara who organise the first competition each year for the jori -gada)
12. Aazaad vyaayaamshalaa
13. Sindhiya ghat vyaayaamshala
14. Akhara nirahu sardaar 
15. Kashi vyaayaamshalaa
16. idul khalifa
17. Narmdeshwar vyaayaamshalaa
18. Babua pandey vyaayaamshalaa
19. Agyavaanbeer vyaayaamshalaa
20. Akhara bada ganesh
21. Akhara santraam

these all above mentioned akharas appreciate to spread and support to jori and gada swinging.
I am very sorry to inform you that there were more than hundred akharas in varanasi but now these rest  are alive and trying to improve to ownself.
I am very thankful to all the master (gurus) of these akharas who comes here to train to everybody without any monthly-charge or ego.

friends !! if you really like to my article or you want to criticise to my article please leave a comment.

      Author: Gyanshankul Singh 

     Location: Varanasi, India

     Email: gyanshankul@gmail.com 

     WHATSAPP- +917607491399

    catch me on facebook:-https://www.facebook.com/gyanshankul.singh

    please like my page on facebook:-https://www.facebook.com/Gyanshankul-and-you-493824863975455/?ref=br_rs

and   https://www.facebook.com/Hanuman-Akhara-1175825172500923/

THE GADA

   

The gada is one of the traditional pieces of training equipment in Hindu physical culture, and is common in the akhara of north India. Maces of various weights and heights are used depending on the strength and skill level of the practitioner. It is believed that, Hanuman's gada was the hugest amongst all the gadas in the world. For training purposes, one or two gada are swung behind the back in several different ways and is particularly useful for building grip strength and shoulder endurance.

 

The Great Gama was known for excessive use of gada. Winners in a kushti contest are often awarded with a gada.

you can find the gada ( the mace) as an exercise tool in all the akharas of varanasi. In varanasi you can see the competition of swinging of the gada ( the mace). 

 Always start from lower to upper weight. sometimes the wrestlers and pahalwaan of jori swing the  lighter weight gada for warm up . the pahalwaans do this swing with one arm. it gives a good body  shape to wrestler and pahalwaan of jori (jori swinger).

                        Always learn the gada swinging under the master (guru's training).

   
     learn the good technique for your best health. the gada is not an exercise tool but a spritual thing for  Hindus. Most of the varanasian loves to swing the gada.

 

how to do gada swinging :

The Gada is swung from between the legs to gain momentum, then launched over the shoulder to begin rotation

Catching the momentum, the head of the Gada is then swung in a  pendulum arc behind the body before being pulled up and over the shoulder, pausing momentarily before being sent back over the opposite shoulder.

The arcing movement is used again to achieve the same result on the opposite side. This is repeated for the desired number of repetitions.

both of hands repetitions count one and upnext....

never loose your wrist power during swinging the gada otherwise it can harm to your backbone or leg or hand.......

          

               ( Nail gada in an akhara at meer ghat in Varanasi )

         To know how to make a gada in easily way please click the link                http://www.indianclubs.com.au/gada-mace/home-made-clay-pot-gada-mace/

     Author: Gyanshankul Singh 

     Location: Varanasi, India

     Email: gyanshankul@gmail.com 

     WHATSAPP- +9109695857846

MAL-KHAMBH

Mallakhamba  is a traditional Indian sport in which a gymnast performs feats and poses in concert with a vertical wooden pole or rope. The word also refers to the pole used in the sport.
Mallakhamba derives from the terms malla which denotes a wrestler and khamba  which means a pole. Mallakhamba/Mallar Kambam can therefore be translated to English as "pole gymnastics". 
As a competitive sport
The Mallakhamb Federation of India is the official Indian National Federation. 29 states of India has participate in mallakhamba competitions at the national level. National level mallakhamba tournaments were first organized more than 25 years ago. The national level tournament is organized in four separate groups according to age.
Under 12
Under 14
Under 17/18 (17 for women and 18 for men)
Above 17/18
Official Organizations
1.Mallakhamb Confederation of World, MCW
2.Asian Mallakhamb Federation, AMF
3.South Asian Mallakhamb Federation, SAMF
4 Mallakhamb Federation USA

On April 9, 2013, the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh declared mallakhamba as the state sport.

 A typical Pahelwani akhara in 18th century  various types of equipment traditionally used  The sword sticks, gauntlet sword and daggers are a throwback to the days when the art was practised by warriors as the foundation of their lethal art of combat. 
The upright wooden pole (‘mal-khambh’) was more common in akharas outside of Punjab and was used as a means of developing power in the legs and arms when executing body clinches.
  

                               (THE PRACTICE OF MALLKHAMBH IN A COMPETITION CAMP)

                (ROPE MALLKHAMB DONE BY GIRLS.......YES, PERFECT GYMNASTICS SHOWS)

                                       (UNTIY HAS STRENGTH- BE CAPABLE TO LEARN )

        (OLD PIC SHOWS THAT HOW OLD ARE THIS TRADITONAL GAMES OF INDIA)

In these modern times, people love to go to gym for aesthetically pleasing body shape. They all love to drink protein powder shakes and inject steroids, but after using them they become patient to dangerous disease. There is no short cut for the success. One of the best tool by which you can create body to be proud of, while also maintaining extreme power and stamina is INDIAN JORI. Practice of Indian Jori is found, mostly in Vaaranasi, but also in South India and in Maharashtra. Only the Varanasian love to swing the Indian Jori far too much. They all go to AKHARA (akhada, traditional gymnasium) where they swing the Indian Jori in various forms that it is suppose to. The traditional routes always followed as they have been found to be the best for over all strength and wellbeing.
To make it more interesting each Akhara arrange regular competition, in which competitors swing heaviest Jori for maximum amount of repetition. These competitions are all very friendly, playful and lots of encouragement is give from each participants by each other. The competition Joris must be 20kg to 35kg. Over time Jori has become a sport in India, be it if only in small local areas.

In Iran there is a simlar practice and what is known as Persian Meels. Indian Jori and Persian Meels have similarities but difference is that the Jori is narrow in size and have heavy iron rings at bottom which makes Jori easy to load with extra weight and difficult to swing, while the MEELS are thicker in size and it does not have any the iron rings. In Varanasi people say both Meels and Jori are much the same.

Advantages of swinging Indian Jori or Persian Meel:

1. It awesome for stamina and power

2. It make a powerful triceps, biceps and shoulder

3. Improves grip strength like nothing else

4. Develops a extremely strong core

5. Weight loss and fat loss made easier

6. Improves overall flexibility and mobility, especially in the shoulder region

7. Develops a very strong back targeting, traps, lats, rhomboids, erector spinae muscles and all the way down to strong glutes

8. Great for folks with heart condition and blood pressure people, but only light weight up to 10kg

There is great advantage for many sports to adopt the practice of Jori swinging which will help better performance and prevent injury.

A lost of sports that have adapted the practice in to hire sports in India:

1. Cricket

2. Wrestlers

3. Badminton and Table Tennis

4. Hockey player

5. Archery

6. Wind sailing

7. Basketball

8. Rugby

9. Volleyball player

All these various sports have heavy emphasis on their shoulders and Indian Jori swinging will give them the strength and mobility. It is worthwhile adopting using Jori, Meel and even Mace drills in to your daily practice along side all the other forms of lifting you are currently practicing.

My a typical session in the Akahra could look something like this

Warm: with Dands (aka Hindu push-ups), Baithak (aka Hindu Squats) and one handed Gada/Mace swinging with weight to 5-20kg. Then main training movement: Double Indian Jori with 22kg x 5 reps for 30mins and then to 5kg swinging one handed gada/mace 20/30mins.

Author: Gyanshankul Singh 

Location: Varanasi, India

 Email: gyanshankul@gmail.com 

WHATSAPP- +9109695857846

               (PAHALWAAN FONI YADAV IS SWINING HEAVY GADA IN AKHARA KALI BARI)

       (THIS IMAGE IS FROM AKHARA HANUMAN JI VYAYAAMSHALA , VARANASI)

    (THE ANCIENT PIC OF THE JORIS-SEE HOW DID THEY USE HEAVY JORIS TO SWING)

(FAMOUS PAHALWAAN -GHANSHU PAHALWAAN AND  MADHAV GURU JI SUPPORTING THIS ANCIENT   GAME TO SPREAD IT ALL OVER WORLD...THIS PIC IS FROM A COMPETITION OF JORIS)