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!
Somehow I lasted about two minutes in the arena… I’ve never wrestled before. I have a hunch that my opponent was just teasing me by letting me hang for that long, though.