Sport in India - Wrestling

Wrestling

Considered as one of the most ancient and oldest sports in the world, wrestling in India has a glorious past. The game of wrestling started its journey in India several centuries back, during the Middle Ages. Wrestling is counted amongst the most prestigious and oldest events in the Olympic Games, as it was included in the Olympics in 708 BC. In the ancient times, wrestling in India was mainly used as a wonderful way to stay physically fit. It was also used as a great way of military exercise without any weapons. Wrestling in India is also known as `dangal`, and it is the basic form of a wrestling tournament. Wrestling in India is most famously known as Malla-Yuddha. There are also mentions of wrestling in the ancient times. These can be found in the great epic of Indian history. Mahabharata has a huge mention about the game of wrestling in India. One of the premier characters in Mahabharata, Bhima was considered to be a great wrestler of that time, and some of the other great wrestlers included Jarasandha, Duryodhan, Karna, etc. In the other Indian epic, Ramayana also mentions about wrestling in India and Hanuman is described as one of the greatest wrestlers of that time. The 13th century Malla Purana has the reference of a group of Gujarati Brahmin wrestlers known as Jyesthimallas.