Nathmal Pahalwan

Nathmal Pahalwan also known as Nathmal Pareek (1911–2006) was a wrestler and a community activist from Calcutta, India. He was the founder of Ganga Seva Samiti Ghat and the wrestling arena in Calcutta, India. He was popularly known as Guruji (Master Teacher) and Pahalwanji (Wrestler in Hindi) by his close friends and disciples.

Guruji's dedication and persistent efforts inspired his close friends and disciples to support the holy mission of building a safe ghat for people to worship in the river Ganges and offer prayers at the nearby temples. In English- and/or Hindi-speaking areas 'ghats' refers to the areas, in the holy river-side cities like Haridwar, Varanasi, Calcutta - where there is a stairway to access the Ganges River.

History

During the early to mid-1900s, in India, wrestling took place in clay or dirt pit. The soil is mixed with milk and ghee (pasteurized butter) and is then softened before each practice. Traditional Indian wrestling is not just a sport - it is an ancient subculture where wrestlers live and train together and follow strict rules on everything from what they can eat to what they can do in their spare time. Drinking and smoking are off limits. The focus is on living a pure life, building strength and honing their wrestling skills.^{[citation needed]}

Championships and accomplishments

Guruji was from the small village Bambu near the village Sandwa in Churu District of Rajasthan, India. Due to his physique and height of 6 feet and 3 inches, he was encouraged to study Pehlwani, an Indian style of wrestling, in the milked sand wrestling pits of India called akhara. He was a favorite in most wrestling tournaments in India due to his big frame and amazing upper body strength. In addition to this, he wrestled on invitation of kings of various Indian princely states. He successfully competed against some of the greatest names in wrestling history and professional wrestlers from the United States.

During his prime days, Guruji won many wrestling contests in greater India, traveled to Nepal and Burma to wrestle against his contemporary renowned European wrestlers. He was one of the top wrestlers in Shri Ganga Singhji's (then king of Bikaner) kingdom in Bikaner, Rajasthan, India and was conferred with numerous awards. He was billed as one of the greatest Pehlwani wrestlers in the history of Greco-Roman wrestling and had some legendary battles with Stanislaus Zbyszko^[1]^{[better source needed]} and Gama Pahalwan^[2]^{[better source needed]}. He won the prestigious title of Hind Kesari.

Guruji was conferred upon the title of The Lion of Rajputana in Agra (1936 A.D) by Lady Lin-lithgow (wife of then Viceroy of India - Lord Lin-lithgow) on winning a double wrestling contest (two wrestling bouts in a day). Guruji was also instrumental in training young wrestlers and having cordial relations with a number of "akhadas" (wrestling arenas) including, Bikaner, Calcutta, and several cities of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. Guruji was instrumental in training^[3] Dara Singh, when he trained with him for a brief time in Kolkota. He had cordial relations with Guru Hanuman and Dara Singh.

He held his wrestling and spiritual gurus (teachers) in great esteem and was always grateful to them for their advice.

Diet and Workouts

Guruji was not only a renowned wrestler of his time, winning a number of prestigious titles but was a great philanthropist too. He firmly believed 'Shareer madhyam khalu dharma sadhanam', meaning - It is through a healthy body alone that one will be able to serve God and Society. His daily morning routine included: Waking up by 4 am, going to the shore of the Ganges, exercise by doing thousand repetitions (reps) of squats (baithak) and push-ups (dand). After that he would do wrestling with other wrestlers & train the new wrestlers and swim for over an hour.

His daily diet included having a high protein diet that included lots of almonds, milk, fruits and Ghee (pasteurized butter). He had built such great stamina with his 3-4 hour workout, that many times he could swim across the Hoogly river, a distance of 0.75 Km (0.5 mile) with relative ease. His daily regimen also included wrestling with multiple wrestlers and teaching them the art of wrestling.

Community service

After he retired from wrestling, he was instrumental in the establishment and development of a number of temples and community centers across India. He was also the President of Pareek Samaj in Kolkota for many years.

Some of the community centers include: Bara Bazar Yuvak Sangh, Calcutta - founded in 1939, Maruti Vyayam Mandir, Bikaner - founded in 1946 and Ganga Seva Samiti Ghat, Calcutta - founded in 1945.

Ved Mata Gayatri and Shiv Temple, Liluah, Pareek Bhavan, Calcutta, Sita Ram Mandir/Bhavan, Sandwa, Rajasthan and Shiva Temple in Bammu, Rajasthan were some of the temples he set up.

He was a very active social worker and encouraged, personally donated large sums of money to the welfare of the poor, down-trodden and convinced the wealthy to donate to the charities and help the communities.

Guruji's family

Guruji died peacefully in 2006 in Calcutta after a brief illness. He was a symbol of strength and saintliness and is revered among the people from all walks of life. He visited all over India, the US and UK and enjoyed a great family life. He is survived by two sons and a daughter.

Though Wrestling in traditional clay pits is on the decline over the last few decades, but there are still many akharas left, thanks to dedicated people like Guruji, who worked to keep this ancient part of Indian culture alive. The akharas and mud based wrestling were one of themes of a recent Aamir Khan based hindi movie - "Dangal" & Salman Khan hindi movie "Sultan". People were mesmerized to re-live the ancient art of wrestling.

On Friday, 17 September 2010, a statue [1] of Guruji was unveiled at Ganga Seva Samithi, Calcutta to commemorate his life and his achievements. It was attended by his family, friends, a number of political leaders and social workers, who looked upon Guruji as their role model.

References

^ Stanislaus Zbyszko
^ The Great Gama
^ Guha, Susenjit (15 July 2012). "Dara Singh considered Parekh as guru". The Sunday Guardian. Retrieved 8 October 2018.

[1] Stanislaus Zbyszko

[2] The Great Gama

[3] Guha, Susenjit (15 July 2012). "Dara Singh considered Parekh as guru". The Sunday Guardian. Retrieved 8 October 2018.

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