Product Code Database
Musti-Yuddha (Sanskrit: मुष्टि युद्ध) is a traditional combat sport originating from the Indian subcontinent.Donn F. Draeger and Robert W. Smith (1980). 9780870114366, Kodansha International. ISBN 9780870114366 The term literally means "fist combat", from the Sanskrit words muṣṭi (fist) and yuddha (fight, battle, conflict). While this would originally have been used as a general term for any boxing art, today it usually refers to muki boxing from Varanasi, the only surviving unarmed style. In the Punjab there still exists an armed form of boxing called loh-musti in which the fighters wear a kara on one hand, although it is no longer used for sparring.
Aspiring fighters undergo years of apprenticeship, toughening their fists against stone and other hard surfaces, until they are able to break and rocks with their bare hands. Any part of the body may be targeted, except the groin, but the prime targets are the head and chest. Techniques incorporate a variety of punches, and grabs. Boxers wear no form of protection and fight bare-fisted. Matches may be one-on-one, one against a group, or group against group. Victory can be attained by knockout, ringout or submission.
The martial art is related to other forms of martial arts found in other parts of the Greater India including Muay Thai in Thailand, Muay Lao in Laos, Pradal Serey in Cambodia and Lethwei in Myanmar.
The French General Allard commented on the boxing practiced by the early 19th-century Lahore army that "Duelling is not known in the army of Ranjit Singh. The soldiers settle their disputes with their fists; a brutal, and equally un-Christian, method of adjusting differences." The particular form of boxing he referred to was loh-musti, practiced primarily in the northwest.
The British colonial introduction of western boxing in the 1890s caused a decline in native musti-yuddha, until only muki boxing survived in Varanasi. A city considered holy to , Varanasi has a tradition of annual boxing festivals dating back more than 300 years. Injuries were frequent and often severe. The most famous post-independence fighters include Narayanguru Balambhat Deodhar and Lakshmanguru Balambhat Deodhar, both of whom were said to have been able to defeat 12 men at once. Musti-yuddha has become increasingly rare over time and by the 1960s was already being pushed further underground. Illegal matches are still held in Kolkata today and are frequented by gamblers.
|
|
