Mud Wrestlers Give Up Everything for Ancient Sport: A Tale of Redemption

Fighting in mud training for hours and going years without seeing a family this is kushti a traditional form of Indian wrestling left his rural Hometown when he was 15. to join this Academy in Kolhapur today he lives and trains at the century-old gangavesh talim this sport is a way out of poverty for many farming families in just over a decade Mali has become one of the top fighters here earning up to four thousand dollars from one competition but India has shifted to favor wrestling on the mat over mud and the tradition that goes back 2500 years is dwindling so what does it take to be one of India's mud wrestlers and how is this traditional sport still standing becoming a cushty fighter is all about discipline Maui wakes up at 3 55 am every day he starts his training sessions at dawn with some of the other 200 wrestlers who live here they use their own and each other's body weight to build strength is they train six days a week often under coach vishwash Mali has been working with him since he joined the academy vishwas has trained over a thousand kids and he doesn't go easy on them foreign -up by preparing the dirt floor clearway stones and smooth it out the dirt is mixed with turmeric lemon and salt to help wrestlers injuries heal faster swapped out every couple of years and sent to smaller Italians many

see the red soil as sacred because without it they wouldn't have a career before a match Maui warms up his joints with oil and starts planning Studio wrestlers cover themselves in dirt at the start of each match to create more friction between their bodies foreign this is just practice so there's no winner or loser but Maui still gives it his all ah the goal is to pin the opponent's shoulders to the soil they use moves similar to other forms of wrestling like locks and throws Molly and his opponent reapply the soil as they sweat to get a better grip with their feet planted in the dirt wrestlers move slowly a real match can last as long as one hour by the end they're soaked in mud din years Mali isn't done for the day when the practice match is over mud wrestling has roots that date back to at least the 5th Century BC it evolved out of an ancient form of Indian wrestling mixed with Persian martial arts the sport thrived in Kolhapur at the turn of the 20th century the district's ruler shahu Maharaj was a fan of the art and built talims all over the region including this one but mud fighting saw shift about 15 years ago when India started prioritizing map wrestling the government wanted its athletes to compete internationally so many talims had to adapt and started investing in maths including this one is but here they still practice in the traditional mud pits because they believe it makes them better wrestlers on the mat too foreign still draw crowds in Kolhapur and they always open with a ceremony playing traditional Indian horns and drums the cash prizes for this tournament depend on how much money the dangle organizers were able to raise from local fans young wrestlers take home just a small part of the pool sometimes around a dollar per win but older more experienced Fighters can walk away with up to a thousand dollars that's why low income families often send their kids to live at tallies hoping they'll get good enough to make a living Fighters also live and train for free but there's little comfort most of them sleep in shared dorms that can fit up to 50 people at a time and

with packed schedules every day they rarely get the chance to visit home Mali has gone up to four years without seeing his family yoga but the wrestlers find family in each other competition Maui's dedication has paid off he says he earns up to 55 000 in a four-month season it would take a typical farming family over 35 years to make that much getting to that level takes a lot of time and practice which is why kids start Young yes some of the youngest are here for just the summer so the talim is especially crowded this time of year but during the height of the pandemic it looked completely different wrestlers couldn't make any money for two years when competition stopped wrestlers are responsible for their own food and expenses and those costs can add up especially with the diets they have to maintain foreign eggs but today is Saturday so they're making vegetarian dolls Maui is now a veteran at this time mentoring the younger wrestlers but he still remembers his first day here foreign now he's treated like a celebrity um Molly hopes to keep wrestling for another decade and he believes the ancient tradition of kushti isn't going anywhere