Tribute

Born in 1928 in Amritsar, Punjab, Dara Singh studied Pehlwani, the Indian style of wrestling, in the milked sand wrestling pits of Indian akhara. Dara Singh was a favourite in wrestling tournaments in India.

Much like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Hollywood, he is credited to be the first hero in Bollywood to bring the machismo appeal on-screen with his well-built body.His screen image of manliness and strength promoted the need of physical appearance among lot of individual gym enthusiasts in India.

Commenting upon which, he had said: “It’s true that gyms are taking the place of akharas in urban India. The emphasis in akhara is on physical strength, while gyms focus more on physical appearance, looks and beauty. It’s sad that people approaching akharas are poor. The main reason behind this is the lax attitude of the government in promoting and marketing this age-old physical training centres.”

Royal Patronage

During the Mughal period physical fitness was given prime importance, especially by the kings and the higher class warriors. The Mughal emperors were patrons of hunting and wrestling. References are found which indicate that wrestlers were part of a ruler’s estate. Indications are that wrestlers were paid a regular stipend and were also given provisions for maintaining themselves (Beveridge 1921: 656, 660, 683; Blochmann 1873–1948: 253; Mujumdar 1950: 16; T. N. Roy 1939). In turn they were called upon to entertain the royal court. Bouts were organized with wrestlers from other courts. The Agra fort and the Red Fort were the popular venues of many wrestling bouts in the times of Emperor Shahjahan.

During the Maratha period, Chattrapati Shivaji`s guru, Samarth Ramdas, built several Hanuman temples all over Maharashtra, for the promotion of physical culture among the youth. The best account of a royal akhara for this period is that of Nanasaheb Peshwa. According to Mujumdar his akhara was equipped with twenty-four different pieces of exercise equipment (ibid: 21). Bajirao II also built and maintained a fully equipped akhara and established Balambhaat Dada Deodhar as the guru of this facility. Later Deodhar and his disciples moved to Banaras where they established an akhara now known as Kon Bhatt Akhara in the Bibihatia neighborhood. Although the evidence is scant it would be a fair to say that court wrestlers during the Mogul and Maratha periods were kept as entertainers and as symbols of royal power. The same was true for princely states of the more modern period of British Rule.

According to contemporary wrestlers, the art of wrestling would have died out completely had it not been for royal patronage.

Credit(UC Press E-Books Collection, University of California Press.)

The Indian Connection

The word kalari is said to have been derived from the Sanskrit words "kala", which means art, and "ari", which means enemy. Literally, thus it means art of defeating an enemy. Legends has it that around 525 AD, an Indian Buddhist monk named Bodhidharama travelled to China and trained the monks in kung-fu at the Shaolin temple. Kalari practitioners claim that Bodhidharama taught them the eighteen hands of Buddha - a special set of exercises and from this evolved the Chinese art of Shaolin Boxing. These eighteen hands of Buddha are said to be derived from the eighteen 'adavukals' (adavu = technique), which form the substratum of the 'Vadakkan' or northern style of Kalarippayattu. Slowly this fighting style traced its route to Japan and blended with the fighting skills of those regions, resulting in today's martial arts.

Martial arts was often referred to as fighting systems, but apart from self-defence and sport, people now study martial arts for fitness ,meditation, mental discipline and self-confidence.

Origin of fitness in ancient India

To understand where the fitness training profession is headed, we need to know its origins and identify how the fitness training industry is evolving in India.

In ancient India, individual pursuit of fitness was discouraged as the religious beliefs of Buddhism and Hinduism emphasized spirituality and tended to neglect development of the body. Consequently, the importance of fitness within society in general was relatively low. However, an exercise program developed, while still conforming to religious beliefs, known as Yoga. Though it’s exact origin has yet to be identified, Yoga has existed for at least the past 5000 years. Translated, Yoga means union, and refers to one of the classic systems of Hindu philosophy that strives to bring together and personally develop the body, mind, and spirit. Yoga was originally developed by Hindu priests who lived frugal lifestyles characterized by discipline and meditation. Through observing and mimicking the movement and patterns of animals, priests hoped to achieve the same balance with nature that animals seemed to possess. This aspect of Yoga, known as Hatha Yoga, is the form with which we are most familiar and is defined by a series of exercises in physical posture and breathing patterns. Bedsides balance with nature, ancient Indian philosophers recognized health benefits of Yoga including proper organ functioning and whole well-being. These health benefits have also been acknowledged in the modern-day United States, with an estimated 12 million individuals regularly participating in Yoga.

Credit (The History of Fitness,Lance C. Dalleck, M.S. and Len Kravitz, Ph.D.) from “www.unm.edu”

Intro

Everybody could use a hand sometimes...........whether you're first starting out in your blogger's life , or you're ready to move in a new direction,, or you're feeling burned out doing what you most love to do-at some point in your life , you'll find scratching your head and wondering ,"what do i do now?".

I hope this blog would help me and ( you ) to find the answers.

I wanted to write this blog that would help me and all the other fitness trainers out there , at any stage of there professional development.