Thought some people might be interested. This is a document i found online a couple years back that gives a good understanding of the Gatka, a stick based art, and its evolution due to colonialism to a fencing like rule set. I thought some people - fencers and even freestyle wrestlers - would like it as it shows what has happened with pretty much every sport art, especially european. The best stuff is taken out as the sport becomes formalised e.g. catch and catch became folk/freestyle which only focus on control. This is also i pretty nice throw back to older times. I wonder what kali practitioners think of the footwork and (very few) techniques illustrated. http://www.scribd.com/doc/14749235/The-Art-of-GatkaFighting-1936
Hm... I'm just going to use this thread to post about North Indian MA resources. Heres one available from rosstraining.com: http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/India/Encyclopaedia/IndianPhysCult.pdf PDF Reader page 223 looks remarkably like "the russian" or "one two" from freestyle which then transitions into a neck crank. PDF reader page 227 (explanation on 228) shows an inverted triangle to defend a shot. the same as this in fact! [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPQF0mP5tOs"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPQF0mP5tOs[/ame] It's cool to see the techniques.
The more i read the Encyclopaedia of Indian Physical Culture the more it puts into context on things i've witnessed, experienced and researched. Here are a few things i've noted and now have proof for: - Gatka-Khel (Stick play) and other things such as the string wheel and ball-end sticks are a training tool with both vedic and islamic origins. - Most weapon fighting ends with grappling. Considering these were actual battlefield arts of ancient in India it puts some good light on why judo is so grappling based also. - Wrestling is the primary combat system, even when striking was involved, wrestling is used to take the opponent on to a more stable surface from which to strike (same as weapons). - Armbars, wrist-locks and other subs are all there. - Cartwheels to avoid pins were common in wrestling. In fact the indian wrestling rules are mostly the same as catch. - Pole-gymnastics was considered manly. From what i remember, certain groups of indian government tried to encourage and recreate the image of a "manly" indian at that time, thats why the book is so focused on it. They really wanted wrestling to be the national sport, not cricket. Hence no mention of cricket but only things with combat application.
