The Kusti series by Pavan K J brings forth an interesting visual narrative of a sport which is today going through a drastic transitional shift. By capturing the visual traces of the centuries-old Akhaara tradition, the photographer not only re-invokes the past into the heart of the present but also compels the viewer to think about what constitutes the lure of the contemporary wrestling scenario in India. Is free-style wrestling a new emergent form in India or is it a reconstitution of diminishing age-old tradition of kusti, struggling to keep pace with the times?
Indian Kusti, or traditional wrestling, is a hybrid sport made up of two earlier forms of wrestling: an indigenous form dating to first millennium BCE and a Persian form that was introduced by the Mughals in the sixteenth century. Also referred to as ‘pahalwani’ in Northen India, wrestling is far more than a competitive sport. It is a self-structured way of living a life based on a fluid synthesis of cognitive and somatic principles. A wrestler derives the sense of his identity and the world through the medium of his body which he channels over years of hardship through a disciplinary regime practiced in Akharas. The Akhara is the spatial and spiritual center of the wrestlers’ world. Traditionally Akharas were located in temple complexes or places where a clean and natural environment was part of the Akhara life (such as near river banks or ponds).
Managed by a guru, such community spaces are generally ran on the support of neighborhoods and donations of mercantile families. Based on minimal infrastructural needs, Aakharas comprise of an earthen pit, a bathing well, Hanuman’s shrine and an exercising floor. The daily regimen of the wrestlers in the gymnasium comprises of routine acts and events aimed at disciplining one’s body and developing self-control over one’s sexual energies. Getting up before dawn, worshipping Hanuman, running, preparing the earthen pit, practicing wrestling moves for hours, exercising in the afternoon and following strict dietary techniques are some of the daily activities which are part of wrestlers’ training. Along with these, continuous participation in wrestling competitions, known as ‘dangal’, are important events to shape one’s identity as a wrestler. Akhara’s have been the traditional gurukuls where practioners were schooled in Kusti. But with the change in times and urbanisation, after the nineteen sixties, when most of the countries were re-appropriating their wrestling traditions according to the modern Olympic version, Indian wrestling remained insulated from these changes.
A major shift that wrestling experienced internationally as part of its modernisation was the introduction of a professional mat. This changed the entire game as smooth mat requires quick feet whereas mud was slow and sticky. The contemporary Olympic Indian wrestling champions still belong to and share a legacy with age old Kusti tradition but are schooled in modern Akharas.
It is this continuous struggle of the traditional Akhara standing at the crossroads between fast paced modernisations and the preservation of age-old traditions and legacies that intrigued the photographer to capture the unrest within the serenity of the Akhara space.
Pavan K J graduated from the Chamarajendra Academy of Visual Arts, Mysore in the year 2005; with photography being his core subject of study. While at college, Pavan discovered his fascination for painting. This translated into his quest for frames that he could paint, using his camera. After graduation, Pavan worked for an year as an assistant photographer at Ideogram – a fashion and advertising enterprise in Bangalore. He received the Dasara Award for Fine Art Photography in the year 2002 and an award in the still life category at the national level competition organized by the Better Photography magazine in the year 2007. Photographs from his Traces series were exhibited at Harmony 2008, Mumbai.