Kushti




Ancient Wrestling between boys & girls

Please direct any suggestions or query at paulsheehan123@rediffmail.com

I always wanted to be a director. But directing a sports documentary was not
the exact thing in my mind. But leaving a secured job of a investment banker
to take up a totally new career where a person with no experience will always
struggle for a break I had little option. So when the offer to make a sports
documentary came in I had to say yes. I had a background of sports in college
and had played state also. So somehow the British channel thought that maybe I
would be able to accomplish the task of directing 24 episodes of a series
where 3 best British fighters of different weight class will travel to
different countries study the martial arts of that country and fight with the
native fighters. The Brits were more interested in filming the martial arts
style of their former colonies. Here with my multicultural back ground I fit
in perfectly.

I had to interview for assistant director and contact associates in different
countries where we would shoot. For Assistant director Milli, was a hands down
choice, she was a 3rd generation Indian American, and had a great background
in sports with a degree in ancient oriental martial arts. She was a statuesque
lady of 28 with around 5 ft 8 inches height and 78 kg weight and a beautiful
radiant face.

As the shooting started her knowledge of different martial arts proved a big
asset. I was able to wrap up the episodes on time and within budget. She not
only assisted me with research but also helped the 3 British fighters in their
training and fights sometimes even sparring with them. John the heavyweight
weighed in at 133 kgs but still had trouble with matching steps with this
agile lady in practice. Milli often lamented that we do not consider women
fighters for the show. In most of countries women were recently participating
in these traditionally macho sports and women were not as liberated as their
western counterparts.

We travelled to India to film kushti, a traditional form of mud wrestling
prevalent from thousands of years in India. Here we decided that to retain the
ancient flavor of the sport we will shoot in a village akhada (Hindi for gym)
and not in a modern gym in the city. As decided we visited a village in
northern India to stay & shoot. Milli was happy visiting her native country
and shared much insight with me about the wrestling style and also about
ancient women's participation in the sports. She mentioned a wrestler named
harika who had defeated and killed male wrestler in kushti. She also mentioned
that in ancient times there were many great female pehelwans(wrestlers) . Now
I was intrigued to know that as kushti is fought in a pit with the pehelwans
oiled up or covered in mud and wearing nothing but a loin cloth tied around
their waist called langot. I never imagined Indian women looked fragile and
were modesty personified participating in kushti, that too against males. But
Milli said that it was true and she will show me once we were there.

Milli searched heard but she could not find any female pehelwans in india.
Though there were girls practicing wrestling there but they participated in
the modern Olympic freestyle wrestling and not the ancient mud style. That
evening I told Milli that that's why we don't include female participants in
this show as most ancient sports are forbidden to women. In ancient world a
women's role was to bear child and gather and cook food, physical recreation
was not a possible for them. Milli was upset at this, she was also upset about
the situation of girls in the village, as they were burdened with housework
and hardly had any time for any sports whereas boys were free to play and it
was a matter of pride if any boy can be a good wrestler. Milli asserted that
the girls were as good as the boys and she can prove it by training them. I
said that we were at the end of shooting and it was not possible to stay here
more. She said that she will stay back here as long as it takes to train the
girls. I did not want to lose an able assistant and argued hard that the girls
will never make it. At last after hours of argument we reached a decision she
will train the girls and organize a traditional style wrestling tournament
against the boys in six months. If the girls win I will pay her 5000 british
pounds and if the boys win she will pay me the double of that. It was a
lucrative proposition as in six months I will be out of work and already I had
in mind to make a documentary on India, the money could be seed capital for
me, hence I agreed. We shot for few more days and left with milli staying
behind.

The show was a hit and I was contracted for the 2nd season. I forgot about
Milli till after about a year I received a call from her to come and witness
what had happened of her program. I was intrigued at her staying there for so
long and decided to visit her once. She told me a specific date and I made my
tickets. On reaching the village I found it empty. Milli came out hearing the
engine of my car and greeted me with a smile. She told me that there was a big
fair about two days distance from the village on some religious occasion and
the village will be empty for week. She had scheduled the tournament at that
time to avoid any controversy. She told me that a part of our bet will go to
the wrestlers and I will soon find out who the real stronger sex is.

She told me that to convince the boys to wrestle the girls she had already
wrestled and defeated the boys coach a renowned wrestler. As the girls were
not allowed to practice in the boys akhada they had made a new one for them at
the jungle nearby. The place was totally secluded and was at a height so that
any one approaching can be seen and due to dense tree cover was not visible
from the ground below.I saw some videos of the girls wrestling in the pit and
was amazed to see them wrestling bare breasted only with the loin cloth tied
at their waist & between their leg, their technique and agility was amazing.
The girls truly had mastered the ancient wrestling form and their training and
technique was impressive but I was still skeptical about their chance against
the stronger boys.

The tournament began in the evening at the girls akhada. Milli told me that
her project was a secret from the parents of the girls and therefore she had
choosen such location and had provided for the girls training and diet. There
were only the wrestlers of the opposing teams their coaches and me present
there. Milli introduced me to the boys coach and told me with an impish smile
that the matches will be held as it was held in ancient times. Truly at dusk
the arena was lit with mashals (Ancient lighting system where oil soaked cloth
is wrapped around a stick) There were so many lights that it was sufficient
for good visibility but would not disturb the wrestlers at their intimate
moments. The two teams entered the pit and stood opposing each other all in
their loin clothes. Milli came out and announced the rules every wrestler will
fight three bouts with the best of two pins/submission winning, there is no
time limit and all holds are legal. As it's the ancient form all wrestlers
will in the nude except a small loincloth covering their genitalia. I was
shocked at the last announcement and confronted Milli as soon she came out of
the pit. Milli told me that ancient fights were in the nude and as we had bet
on ancient style we will witness that. Its not the refined version practiced
nowadays but the violent older version now extinct, Milli has recovered the
techniques from old texts including texts where womens techniques and matches
were recorded.

The contestants paraded in front of us the competitor in each weight class
stood facing each other. Milli told me that the girls in each weight class is
lighter than her male opponent.

The first bout

The contestants were called out in the mud pit called akhada. The akhada is
actually a circle where the clay has been finely grounded so that its like
sand & the wrestler who is thrown on it is does not suffer from heating the
hard ground. The clay/mud is treated with ghee a milk derived clarified butter
which treats injuries. The boy was about 5 ft 6 inches in height & weighed 50
kgs the opposing girl was 44 kgs & 5 ft in height. Despite the loin cloth you
could see his excited organ seeing a seminude girl. The girl also was excited
as was clear from her prominent nipples. As both were lightweight wrestlers
the bout begin with frenzy of holds & counter holds but it was clear from the
beginning that the girl was faster than the boy. She got her opponent in a
headlock & threw him on the ground, the boy scampered away fast on hitting the
ground & attacked the girl. She punched him straight on his body & then on his
head. He backtracked & jumped on her, this time despite delivering a well
delivered punch she could not stop his momentum & fell with the boy. Before
she could scamper away the boy caught hold of her & got her in a chicken wing
they wrestled furiously on the mud before the boys greater weight won the day
& he was able to pin her.

The contestants stood up for the next round. They engaged but this time
instead of trading holds the boy came straight at the girl caught hold of her
loin cloth & in sumo style tried to lift & throw her to the ground. The girl
inturn had gripped the boys loin cloth to prevent her being thrown. Her small
breast was pressed to the boys chest & the loincloth was cutting into the V
between her leg. She was clearly in discomfort. But girls have better balance
due to lower center of gravity & also have greater lower body strength,
demonstrating both she threw her opponent instead. Giving no time to the boy
to recover she jumped on his back & now she straddled him facing his legs. She
got hold of the boys loin cloth & picked up his lower body gripping the cloth
from where it knotted the cloth at his waist. Now it was the boys turn to feel
the pain as his organ was getting crushed by the cloth, fortunately for him
the knot untied & he was freed. The girl threw the boys loin cloth. She then
pulled back his legs in a V & reaching back put a hand under his chin &
started pulling. The boy capitulated within two minutes. The boy was unnerved
by his opponents wrestling skill & embarrassed by his nakedness. He was
getting aroused by the dominance of his opponent & his raging hard on was
ready to fight it out with its opponent's organ. The girl seeing this
discarded her own loincloth & entered the akhada naked. A thin smile appeared
in Millis lips. The two wrestlers again met at the center. As they pushed each
other for dominance the boys penis was pushing in her opponents organ. The
girl suddenly leapt upwards & pulled the boy down into the ground with her
legs wrapped around his torso. It was belatedly that the spectators understood
that the girls vagina had completely engulfed her opponents malehood & was
busy in a wrestling match of their own. The boy on his part was trying to
bearhug the girl closely to make her submit. But the girl had his face between
her breasts & was crushing his heads on her breasts to make him give up. In
between all this action the primal war between the male & female organ was
going on to establish the superiority of on one over the other. As they were
pumping furiously it was clear that the moment of orgasm when a wrestler will
be spent & distracted would decide the outcome of this match. The boys were
rooting for their competitor while the girls were cheering their sister. At
last the girl in a clear show of dominance turned the boy on his back while
continuing her holds both vaginal & physical. The boy launched his semen on
the girls vagina moment before turning & hence was weakened & lost the match
the semen flowed out of her vagina as she completed the pin. She now
stimulated herself on the rapidly shrinking boys penis which was still her
vaginal captive & achieved orgasm, quite painfully fir the boy. She stood up
the referee had to help the boy get up. He asked both to shake hands & then
raised the girls hand. Her pussy was also gleaming from its win from its own
bout with the male organ, while the boys penis was hanging limp in shame of
its defeat. The boy left the akhada with his head hung low while the girl
jumped into her sisters embrace.

It was time for the next bout

To be continued ... ... .