Jetties of Mysore

Myore is synonymous with several things. Talk about Dasara and the first place that comes to mind is Mysore. Similarly, mention Chamundi and the Chamundi Hills of  Mysore come to our mind. So also do sandalwood, jasmine, silk and even wrestling or Kusti.
Traditional Indian wrestling or kusti as it is popularly known  has long been a part of Mysore and the Dasara festivities. In Mysore these wrestlers are known as pehelwans or Jetties.

The Wodeyar Kings of Mysore were known or their patronage of wrestling. One of the kings, Ranadheera Kanteerava was himself a champion wrestler.

There were two types of wrestling that were patronized in Mysore. One was called Musti Kalaga and in this sport, fists were used to hit the forehead of an opponent and the fight was stopped when the first blood was drawn.

The second was the regular Kusti or Malla Yuddha where an opponent had been pinned on the ground. Both forms of Kusti were held during Dasara.  

When India became independent in 1947, Mysore had more than 150 Garadi Manes or places where wrestlers learnt the game. Today, there are less than 50.

Generally Hanuman was the presiding God of the Garadi Mane. The centre of the Garadi Mane had a ring of mud which is considered to be sacred and wrestlers stepped on it only after offering prayers to Hanuman and other Gods.

One of the oldest and still surviving Akhada or Garadi Mane in Mysore is the Sahukar Chennaiah Kusti Akhada.

The Garadi Manes and Akhadas hosted several wrestling matches. Today, almost all the wrestling bouts are held at the Doddakere Maidana Kusti Mane. The best time to see wrestling in action would be Dasssara.

The wrestling bouts in Mysore till the 1980s were held regularly at the Sauhkar Chenniah Kusti Akkada.  After the closure of the arena, there was lull in the activity and only State-level Dasara competitions were held every year.

Since February 2011, there has been a revival of some sort and monthly Nada Kusti bouts being conducted at the D. Devraja Urs Multipurpose Wrestling stadium at Doddakere Maidana (Dasara Exhibition grounds).  Well-known Wrestlers from outside the State also are taking part in the bouts and this has been attracting the crowds. The Negilayogi Trust has been formed and a corpus fund of Rs.5 lakhs has been set up with contributions from former wrestlers and sports promoters so that this activity goes on without a lull.

Some of the well-known wrestlers of  the times like Rudra Mooga, Shankar Chakravarthy, Lokesh, Girish and others have flexed their muscles here before going on to the national level.

Old timers still recall the Garadi Manes of yore which became centers of Nada Kusti. They recall that Hathujanagala Garadi, Pakeer Ahmed Sahebara Garadi, Mayannanavara Garadi and Ustad Srinivasan Garadi received royal patronage.

Apart from these garadis, nearly 240 others came up all over Mysore and Bangalore districts. Most of them have closed down due to lack of patronage.

Once a crowd puller, it is today struggling for survival.

The Garadi Mane that Hyder visited

Well, it has been a long time since I wrote about one of the older areas of Bangalore. Almost all Bangaloreans must have heard of the Petes or old localities of  the city.

These petes belong to the time Bangalore came to be founded by Kempe Gowda. The petes were generally concentrated in areas around the fort and they stand there even today, a mute testimony to the days gone by.

One of the many petes is Ranasinghpet.  This is in the central market area of Bangalore and even today it has vestiges of its royal past. No, there is no fort or palace, park or  any similar structure.

Ranasinghpet is still home to a handful of  wrestling houses called Garadi Mane.

The Garadi Mane is an exclusive preserve of wrestlers in this part of Karnataka-Bangalore Mysore, Hassan, Tumur and all parts of south Karnataka.  This Garadi Mane is centuries old and it traces it links with the royalty that ruled over Bangalore for centuries.

The Garadi Manes in Bangalore, Mysore, Srirangapatna and a few other places in south Karnataka are closely associated with Hyder and Tipu Sultan, Wodeyars and earlier to then Kempe Gowda.

There are many Garadi manes in Ranasinghpet and unfortunately several of them are not named or it could also be that I failed to get their names.

These Akhadas, yes they are also called as Akhadas, are the last or rather the first place that a wrestler in the city comes to. These Garadi manes also act as gymnasiums for wrestlers to exercise and tone up their bodies and to practice kusthi-the traditional Indian form of wrestling.

Many of these wrestling pits are on the verge of shutting down as only a handful open people are taking to this manly sport.

In Bangalore, the tradition of Kusthi is as old as the establishment of the City. Kusthi began to take formal shape under the Nadaprabhus or Kempegowdas.  It then continued under Shahaki, the father of Shivaji, who was given Bangalore as a Jagir by the Adil Shah Sultan of Bijapur.

Many soldiers in the armies of the Marathas of Shahaji, Kempe Gowda and Wodeyars were excellent wrestlers. There were regular bouts in the military and  the sport was patronised by the royals asa well as rich noblemen.

The word Garadi comes from Garuda, who is the vehicle of Vishnu. Garuda had enormous physical strength and wrestling as a sport traces its roots to the Vedic age and Bheema in particular. Apart from Bheema, another proficient wrestler was Jarasandha.

You can still see one of Bangalore’s earliest Garadi Manes in Aralepet. This is the Dodda Garadi which was established in 1680 by Guru Gopal Mahandat, who hailed from Kanpur. He settled down in Bangalore and started this Garadi Mane.

This is a Garadi Mane with its own history. Hyder Ali fine tuned his wrestling skilsl here and also toned up his muscles. Hyder,  in his younger days, served under Katti Gopala Raja Urs, an officer of the Wodeyars. When Gopal Raje Urs was posted in Bangalore, Hyder joined his service and frequented this garadi to learn wrestling and club wielding.

The Garadi was renovated twice. The first time in 1827 and again in 1877. Many other garadis came up during this period and among them are - Annayyappa garadi in Tigalarapete (1890), Kunjanna garadi (1895-1900), Venkatadasappa garadi in Doddapete, Chikka Annamma garadi in Cubbonpete, Ane Kallappa garadi, Nana Rao garadi in Balepete, Balegaradi, Bori Muniappa garadi near Super Talkies, Thimmarayappa garadi, and Dasappa garadi.

The Garadis started declining in popularity from 1940 onwards. The call of the freedom movement, the change in the social and economic outlook, stress on modern education all left the garadis far behind in priority.

The new rules of physical fitness in police, para military and armed forces also saw the focus shifting away from wrestling and Indian concepts of fitness. However, the first challenge to this sport was presented with the establishment of the Cantonment by the British in 1809.

The British encouraged Golf, Polo, Cricket, Equestrian sports at the cost of Indian games. The Bangalore Golf Club was started in 1876 and Polo Club in 1855. As early as 1803, the British laid out a horse track for horse racing in Bangalore. This track was at Agaram on Hosur Road.

Today, the Garadi Manes are struggling for survival and it seems to be a cruel irony that wrestling is now sought to be dropped from Olympics as a sport.