Sunday, 15 February 2015

Akhara diet

According to the Samkhya school of philosophy, everything in the universe—including people, activities, and foods—can be sorted into three gunassattva (calm/good), rajas (passionate/active), and tamas (dull/lethargic).
Ghee, amongst the most sattvic of foods consumed for wrestlers
As a vigorous activity, wrestling has an inherently rajasic nature, which pehlwan counteract through the consumption of sattvic foods. Milk and ghee are regarded as the most sattvic of foods and, along with almonds, constitute the holy trinity of thepehlwani khurak (from Persian خوراک پهلوانی khorâk-e pahlavâni), or diet. A common snack for pehlwan are chickpeas that have been sprouted overnight in water and seasoned with salt, pepper and lemon; the water in which the chickpeas were sprouted is also regarded as nutritious. Various articles in the Indian wrestling monthly Bharatiya Kushti have recommended the consumption of the following fruits: apples, wood-apples, bananas, figs, pomegranates, gooseberries, lemons, and watermelons. Orange juice[citation needed] and green vegetables are also recommended for their sattvic nature. Some pehlwan eat meat in spite of its tamasicnature.[2]
Ideally, wrestlers are supposed to avoid sour and excessively spiced foods such aschatni and achar as well as chaat. Mild seasoning with garlic, cumin, coriander, and turmeric is acceptable. The consumption of alcohol, tobacco, and paan is strongly discouraged

Sunday, 1 February 2015

A typical training day

  • 3 AM: Wake up and perform press-ups (danda) and squats (bethak), as many as 4000. Run for 5 miles, followed by swimming and lifting stone and sandbags.
  • 8 AM: Teachers watch as the trainees wrestle each other in earth pits continuously for 3 hours. This is around 25 matches in a row. Matches start with the senior wrestlers. The youngest go last.
  • 10 AM: Wrestlers are given an "special" oil massage before resting.
  • 4 PM: After another massage, trainees wrestle each other for another 2 hours.
  • 8 PM: The wrestler goes to sleep.



A daily scene at a Akhara.

Weight training devices

  • The nal is a hollow stone cylinder with a handle inside.
  • The gar nal (neck weight) is a circular stone ring worn around the neck to add resistance todanda and bethak.
  • The gada (mace) is a club associated with Hanuman. An exercise gada is a heavy round stone attached to the end of a meter-long bamboo stick. Trophies take the form of gada made of silver and gold.
  • Indian clubs, exercise clubs introduced by the Mughals.
Exercise regimens may also include dhakuli which involve twisting rotations, rope climbing, log pulling and running. Massage is regarded an integral part of a wrestler's exercise regimen.

Workout Routine

MORNING ROUTINE 4AM-10AM

Waking up before dawn, the pahelwan typically ran a few miles to build up his stamina. After brushing his teeth, he bathed before spending some time in contemplation or prayer. In order to enter the sacred space of the akhara he would don the wrestler’s habit, the loincloth (‘langot’) and anoint his body with oil.

The preparation of the actual akhara pit would follow. It was dug with a heavy hoe and raked to remove any rocks. The consistency achieved was excellent for protecting the body; at the same time it was not so loose as to impede a pahelwan’s movement. The akhara would be blessed with a sprinkling of buttermilk, oil and red ochre before the training proper commenced.

Next came the ‘jor’ (literally ‘strength’), a form of wrestling that combined elements of practice, training and exercise to developed stamina as well as strength. Pahelwans would be paired off by the ‘guru’, ‘ustad’ or ‘khalifa’ to grapple under close supervision and instruction. The objective was for each pahelwan to throw his opponent down to the ground through the correct application of particular moves. Each move was countered by a defensive move and this sparring continued indefinitely. Unlike a competitive bout, both wrestlers tended to work together so that moves could be applied with precision and executed smoothly with a minimum of effort.

After two or three hours of jor, the pahelwan would rub his body with the earth of the akhara to dry perspiration and partake of its reinvigorating and healing qualities. As the earth dried, it would be scraped off by other pahelwans. He would then bathe and eat before taking some well-earned rest.

EVENING ROUTINE

Diet, recuperation (10 am to 2 pm) & late afternoon training (2 to 6 pm)
In the time from when the morning practice session ended until the evening exercise session began, a pahelwan had to rest, eat and sleep. Although this was a passive part of the pahelwan’s regime, it was important for his recuperation and physical development.

Milk, clarified butter (‘ghee’) and ground almonds comprised the holy trinity of the pahelwan's diet. Some advocated a purely vegetarian diet, while others happily consumed chickens, mutton and a special boiled-down meat soup (‘yakhni’). In a typical day, it was not unusual for a pahelwan to consume half a pound of both ghee and almonds for breakfast, a pound of meat soup made from one chicken, and two loaves of bread for lunch. The same again was eaten for dinner. A large hearty meal was followed by a drought of a cool drink (‘thandai’) made of mixed substances, usually milk, nuts and fruits.

After eating, the pahelwan took a short nap and rested for a couple of hours during the afternoon before commencing his next session of training.
Having eaten, rested, defecated and bathed, the pahelwan returned to the akhara in the afternoon to perform virayam consisting of various individual exercises to build up strength, stamina and flexibility of joints. These were performed religiously.

At the core of this regimen were ‘dands’ (jack-knifing press-ups) and ‘baitaks’ (squats). Although they were two different exercises, dands and baitaks together constituted the core wrestling virayam regimen. Since they provided a complete body workout they were usually referred to as a pair, i.e. dand-baitaks. A good wrestler in the prime of life would perform a minimum of 1,000 dands a day, but more often performing 1,500. As a general rule, the best pahelwans did twice as many baitaks as dands, thus averaging between 2,000 and 3,000 squats a day. This regime made the muscles of the body so incredibly strong that the wrestler appeared divine.


Akhara

In their day, champion pahelwans were devastating because they trained hard, ate big and possessed superior technique, power and fighting hearts.

Many of the best professional pahelwans were born into wrestling families; a son followed in the footsteps of his father and started to wrestle as soon as he was able to walk. As Pahelwani was the child’s one and only pursuit, and as he learnt young and kept his body supple under good teachers, who were to be found in great numbers, the akhara system produced extraordinarily efficient and scientific wrestlers.

The pahelwan, though very much a part of society, considered himself a man apart. When he entered the akhara, he left behind him the mundane for a world of tranquillity and authority. He would adhere strictly to the moral principles of continence, honesty, internal and external cleanliness, simplicity, and contemplation of the Divine, an attribute that he shared with the ascetic fakir or sadhu of the Muslim and Hindu worlds respectively.

The diligent pahelwan strove towards the ideal of perfect health. To achieve this he had to release himself from the world. In this perfect state of self-realization (‘jivanmukti’), ignorance was banished as spiritual consciousness and wisdom developed. At this level, a pahelwan was unaffected by emotions of any sort; he had no concern with the sensory world of pain and pleasure, suffering and greed.