My time with the Kolkata pehlwani
I never really know where my adventures are going to bring me, but this has to be one of the more unlikely destinations!
At the Hooghly River in Kolkata, pehlwani have practiced the art of mud wrestling for centuries. It’s both a sport and a spiritual discipline, a flex of soul and body. While the sport is pretty much ancient, younger wrestlers aren’t taking to it like they used to, making it a dwindling tradition. That said, most days you can find a group of men at the river, wrestling in the sacred mud.
When I found out about the practice, I really wanted to see it. And I got an invitation! Not just an invitation to meet some of these wrestlers… but to join them!
The saga started with me arriving in time just to watch their warm-ups. Their use of old-school workout equipment caught my attention. The big weighted clubs used as dumbells in the 1900s were still in use here. I asked for a demo, and quickly learned what makes swinging them around such an effective workout. You feel it in your biceps pretty hard.
During warm-ups, I got to chat with a few of the wrestlers. I met Suraj, who was the head of this akhara, the local name for the practice center. He inherited the role from his father, who was a bit of a legend in the world of Indian mud wrestling. Jwala Tiwari was at his peak in the 1990s, competing in national level tournaments. Unfortunately, the sport had already begun its decline in popularity that continues until today. As younger Indian wrestlers preferred the modern mats, the practice saw fewer participants and smaller audiences. In order to keep his akhara running, Jwala Tiwari worked shifts as a parking attendant. Today it remains alive and under his son’s leadership as a result.
Attracting younger, newer participants remains a challenge. Many wrestlers begin in childhood, though that doesn’t quite happen like it used to. I did meet one man, who told me he was 39. I asked when he got started, and he also said 39. Thinking he misunderstood me, I asked again, but really this was his new midlife pursuit. He said that yoga was essentially his entry point. It was a practice about uniting body and spirit, and this felt like the next step.
This practice is rooted in Hinduism, particularly around devotion to Hanuman- the monkey deity of strength. “It’s all about power!” one wrestler told me. “Not for physique, not for four packs or six packs. Just power!”
Truly, a wide variety of physiques were represented at the akhara. From the rather slender to the fuller figured. But they made it work for everyone.
Since the mud is considered sacred, you can’t step foot on there without wearing one of the sanctioned orange loincloths. I was offered one so I could get better angles while recording some of the wrestlers sparring. And then my friend mentioned something else. They’ll even let you wrestle with them if you want!
I’ve never wrestled. No high school wrestling. I didn’t even grow up with siblings to play wrestle. So naturally, I suited up (or, down, I guess) and entered the mud.
When I saw who I was going up against, I was pretty surprised. Suraj himself. Leader of the Akhara. This is like putting the boss level of the video game immediately when you plug in the cartridge. Like, if Mike Tyson was your first opponent in Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out.
The bell rang. Somehow I lasted about two minutes in the arena… I’ve never wrestled before. I had a hunch that my opponent was just teasing me by letting me hang for that long, though. I crouched low. Low center of gravity, and all that. That was something I knew about. He pushed, and I pushed back. And as long as we did that, I managed to extend the length of a match I never really expected to win.
Eventually, he decided to stop drawing out the inevitable, figured out a move to flip me by the leg in just two seconds. Sheer stubbornness allowed me to put off being pinned down too soon, but it’s not like I had any real shot of flipping the script and pinning him down, so I gave in. But what a match!
After some more duels, we all had a cool-down session in the mud. The guys massaged mud into each other as a way of keeping cool. One offered to fix my back. I had no idea I had any issues with my back, but as soon as he applied pressure and I felt a dozen things snap into place, apparently I did.
We asked each other a few questions about personal life. They invited me to bring my kids next time. While I’m less than jazzed about the idea of taking three toddlers to Kolkata any time soon, they aren’t wrong about the fact that they would love being thrown around in the mud.
We finished with a cool-down rinse in the river.
A huge thanks to the Kolkata pehlwans for being such a welcoming crew!