Pehlwani Wrestling Akharas of Lahore

Pehlwani is the traditional wrestling of Punjab, practised in earthen pits called akharas, and Lahore's old city was once one of its great centres. A handful of akharas still run in the city, with the best-known reported behind the Badshahi Mosque, and practice happens early in the morning. There is no ticketed show, so seeing one means asking permission, going with a local contact and treating it as a place of training, not a performance.

This guide covers the history behind the Gama legacy, how an akhara works day to day, where Dawn has reported them in Lahore, and the manners that matter. We have not visited and write from published reports; akharas open, move and close, so confirm before you go.

What is pehlwani and what is an akhara?

Pehlwani is a wrestling tradition from the subcontinent, and a pehlwan is a wrestler. An akhara is both gym and school: a pit of loose, oiled earth where wrestlers train and spar, with ropes to climb, weights and a master (ustad) who runs it.

Lahore and the Gama legacy

Lahore's Walled City produced "scores of world-class wrestlers", according to a Dawn history of the old city, and lanes were named after famous pehlwans. Dawn names Shahia Pehlwan's akhara at Paniwala Talaab and the Gama family, a Kashmiri-origin Butt family living near Taxali Gate, as among the most important, with wrestlers across generations from about 1850.

The most famous member is Ghulam Muhammad Baksh Butt, known as the Great Gama, born on 22 May 1878 (Wikipedia). In London in 1910 he wrestled Stanislaus Zbyszko for nearly three hours in a draw, then won the rematch by default. He beat Zbyszko again in Patiala in 1928, inside a minute. After Partition he moved to Pakistan and died in Lahore on 23 May 1960.

His brother Imam Baksh's sons became known as the Bholu Brothers: Bholu, Azam, Aslam, Akram and Goga. Wikipedia records that Bholu ran the Bilal Gunj akhara in Lahore and founded another in Karachi in 1948. In 1951 Aslam defeated Younus Pahalwan, also known as Younus Gujranwala, at Minto Park in Lahore to be declared Rustam-e-Punjab, which gives a sense of how the Lahore and Gujranwala wrestling scenes met each other. The Gujranwala akharas are harder to find in current reports, so we do not list any.

What happens at an akhara

A Dawn feature on Akhara Shahia, behind the Badshahi Mosque, describes the routine. Wrestlers arrive straight after Fajr prayers, sweep and clean the pit, tie their loincloths and rub oil on themselves. Then come push-ups, sit-ups, rope climbing, weightlifting and bouts in the mud. Modern trainees work about two to three hours before 10 am, where older generations reportedly trained seven or eight hours a day.

Diet is part of the discipline. Dawn reported a daily need of about a kilogram of meat, four pots of milk and 250 grams of almonds per wrestler, costing about PKR 3,500 a head per day at the time of writing. That cost is one of the reasons the tradition is struggling.

How many akharas are left?

Not many. Dawn describes the sport as having declined sharply after the death of the wrestler Jhara Pehlwan in 1991, citing the loss of government patronage, rising costs, phone distractions for young men and closed akharas. At the time of its report about 25 wrestlers trained at Akhara Shahia, and some wrestle for state teams such as the army, Wapda and railways. Besides Shahia, the same report listed akharas in Samanabad, Shahdara, China Scheme and Saddar Cantt. Information about their current state is not easy to find, so call ahead through a local contact.

Can you watch practice or a dangal?

Dawn reported dangals, the public matches, on Sundays in China Scheme, free to attend. That report is not recent, so treat it as a lead and not a schedule. Practice is a private training session in a place where people live and work.

If you want to visit, here is what we would do:

• Ask first. Go through a local guide, a hotel or someone who knows the ustad, and agree a time. Do not turn up unannounced with a camera.
• Be there at dawn. Training begins after Fajr, so expect a very early start. Our Walled City guide helps with getting around the old city and the Badshahi Mosque guide covers the neighbourhood.
• Dress modestly in shalwar kameez or loose clothes, and expect to take your shoes off.
• Ask before photographing. Wrestlers wear very little in training, and some will not want their photograph taken.
• Stay out of the pit, and sit where you are shown.
• Go with your contact and ask where it is appropriate for you, especially women or children, to sit or stand.

The old-city lanes and bazaars around the akharas are worth the walk anyway, and our 13 gates of Lahore guide covers where Taxali and the other gates stood. Our experiences page lists other cultural activities in the city.

Is it worth going?

If you care about traditional sport or Lahore's social history, an invited visit can be one of the less staged things you do in the city, and the context of Gama's story makes it a good one. If you want a polished show, it is not that. Matches are infrequent, training is private, and the sport is shrinking, so being a respectful and patient guest matters most.

Frequently asked questions