Pehlwani

Pehlwani

Wrestling match in Davangere (2005)
Also known as	Kushti
Focus	Grappling
Country of origin	Medieval India
Famous practitioners	Khashaba Jadhav Maruti ManeNathmal Pahalwan Banda Bahadur Harishchandra Birajdar The Great Gama Jatindra Charan Goho Dara Singh Sushil Kumar
Parenthood	Malla-yuddha Varzesh-e Pahlavani
Olympic sport	No

Pehlwani is a form of wrestling from the Indian Subcontinent. It was developed in the Mughal Empire by combining native malla-yuddha with influences from Persian varzesh-e bastani. The words pehlwani and kushti derive from the Persian terms pahlavani and koshti respectively. It is likely that the word derives from the Iranian word "Pehalavi" denoting an Iranian people.

A practitioner of this sport is referred to as a pehlwan while teachers are known as ustad. Many southern Indian practitioners of traditional malla-yuddha consider their art to be the more "pure" form of Indian wrestling, but most South Asians do not make this clear distinction and simply view kushti as the direct descendent of ancient malla-yuddha, usually downplaying the foreign influence as inconsequential.

The ancient South Asian form of wrestling is called malla-yuddha. Practiced at least since the 5th millenniun BC,described in the 13th century treatise Malla Purana, it was the precursor of modern kushti.

In the 16th century, northern India was conquered by the Central Asian Mughals, who were of Turko-Mongol descent. Through the influence of Iranian and Mongolian wrestling, they incorporated groundwork to the local malla-yuddha, thereby creating modern kushti. Babur, the first Mughal emperor, was a wrestler himself and could reportedly run very fast for a long distance while holding a man under each arm. Mughal-era wrestlers sometimes even wore bagh naka on one hand, in a variation called naki ka kushti or "claw wrestling".