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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Ghulam Mohammed Baksh Butt[2] (1878-05-22)22 May 1878 |
| Died | 23 May 1960(1960-05-23) (aged 82)[6] |
| Family | Imam Baksh Pahalwan (brother) Kalsoom Nawaz Sharif (granddaughter) Maryam Nawaz (great-granddaughter) |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name | Gama Pahalwan |
| Billed height | 5 ft 8 in (173 cm)[1] |
| Billed weight | 250 lb (110 kg)[1] |
Ghulam Mohammad Baksh Butt (22 May 1878 – 23 May 1960), commonly known by the titleRustam-e-Hind[a] and by thering nameThe Great Gama,[b][7] was a Pakistanipehlwani wrestler andstrongman fromPunjab. His career spannedBritish India and later,Pakistan. In the early 20th century, he was an undefeated wrestling champion of British India.[8][9]
He was born into a ButtPunjabi-Kashmiri family inJabbowal village (Amritsar District) in thePunjab Province of British India in 1878,[3][10] Gama was awarded a version of theWorld Heavyweight Championship on 15 October 1910. Undefeated in a career spanning more than 52 years, he is considered one of the greatest wrestlers of all time.[11] After thepartition of India, Gama migrated to Pakistan, where he died in the city ofLahore on 23 May 1960.[4][12][13]
The prominent members of Great Gama Family includeJahara Pehlwan,Nasir Bholu, Sohail Pehlwan, Abid Pehlwan,Kalsoom Nawaz,Bilal Yasin (Ex-Federal Minister), Ibraz Butt (Youth Parliamentarian, Secretary of Information)[14] and Moazzam Zubair (son of Jahara).
Ghulam Mohammad Baksh Butt was born on 22 May 1878 inJabbowal, a village in thePunjab Province ofBritish India (now in theKapurthala district ofPunjab, India) into aKashmiri Muslim family of traditional wrestlers.[1][4][5][15] Gama had two wives: one in Punjab and the other inBaroda, Gujarat.[citation needed]
He was first noticed at the age of ten, in 1888, when he entered astrongman competition held inJodhpur, which included many gruelling exercises such as squats.[16] The contest was attended by more than four hundred wrestlers and Gama was among the last fifteen and was named the winner by the Maharaja of Jodhpur due to his young age.[17] Gama was subsequently taken into training by the Maharaja ofDatia a princely state inBundelkhand.[18] As per the tradition, he was subjected to a rigorous training regime which included throusands ofHindu push-ups andHindu squats everyday.[19]
In 1895, at the age of 17, Gama challenged the then Rustam-e-Hind,[a] middle-aged Raheem Bakhsh Sultani Wala, another ethnic Kashmiri wrestler fromGujranwala.[20] At about 7 feet (2.1 m) tall, with a very impressive win–loss record, Raheem was expected to easily defeat the 5-foot-7-inch (1.70 m) Gama. Raheem's only drawback was his age as he was much older than Gama, and near the end of his career. The bout continued for hours and eventually ended in a draw.[21] The contest with Raheem was the turning point in Gama's career. After that, he was looked upon as the next contender for the title ofRustam-e-Hind or theIndian Wrestling Championship. In the first bout Gama remained defensive, but in the second bout he went on the offensive. Despite severe bleeding from his nose and ears, he managed to deal a great deal of damage to Raheem Bakhsh.[21][22]
By 1910, Gama had defeated all the prominent Indian wrestlers who faced him except the champion, Raheem Bakhsh Sultani Wala. At this time, he focused his attention on the rest of the world. Accompanied by his younger brotherImam Bakhsh, Gama sailed to England to compete with the Western wrestlers but could not gain instant entry, because of his lower height.[23]
In London, Gama issued a challenge that he could throw any three wrestlers of any weight class in thirty minutes. This announcement however was seen as a bluff by the wrestlers and their wrestling promoter R. B. Benjamin.[12] For a long time, no one came forward to accept the challenge. To break the ice, Gama presented another challenge to specific heavy weight wrestlers. He challengedStanislaus Zbyszko andFrank Gotch, that he would either beat them or pay them the prize money and go home. The first professional wrestler to take his challenge was the AmericanBenjamin Roller. In the bout, Gama pinned Roller in 1 minute 40 seconds the first time, and in 9 minutes 10 seconds the other. On the second day, he defeated 12 wrestlers and thus gained entry to the official tournament.[23]
He was pitted against world championStanislaus Zbyszko[23] and the bout was set for 10 September 1910. Zbyszko was then regarded among the premier wrestlers in the world; and he would then take on the mammoth challenge of India's feared Great Gama, an undefeated champion who had been unsuccessful in his attempts to lure Frank Gotch into a match. And so, on 10 September 1910, Zbyszko faced the Great Gama in the finals of theJohn Bull World Championships in London.[24] The match was worth £250 in prize money and the John Bull Belt. Within a minute, Zbyszko was taken down and remained in that position for the remaining 2 hours and 35 minutes of the match. There were a few brief moments when Zbyszko would get up, but he just ended back down in his previous position. Through this defensive strategy of hugging the mat in order to nullify Great Gama's greatest strengths, Zbyszko wrestled the Indian legend to a draw after nearly three hours of grappling, though Zbyszko's lack of tenacity angered many of the fans in attendance.[25]
Nevertheless, Zbyszko still became one of the few wrestlers to ever meet the Great Gama without going down in defeat; The two men were set to face each other again on 17 September 1910. On that date, Zbyszko failed to show up and Gama was announced the winner by default.[26] He was awarded the prize and the John Bull Belt. Receiving this belt entitled Gama to be calledRustam-e-Zaman orWorld Champion but not the lineal champion of the world as he hadn't defeated Zbyszko in the ring.
During this tour, Gama defeated some of the most respected grapplers in the world, "Doc"Benjamin Roller of the United States, Maurice Deriaz of Switzerland, Johann Lemm (the European Champion) of Switzerland, and Jesse Peterson (World Champion) from Sweden. In the match against Roller, Gama threw "Doc" 13 times in the 15-minute match.[citation needed] Gama now issued a challenge to the rest of those who laid claim to the World Champion's Title, including JapaneseJudo championTaro Miyake,George Hackenschmidt of Russia andFrank Gotch of the United States – each declined his invitation to enter the ring to face him. At one point, to face some type of competition, Gama offered to fight twenty English wrestlers, one after another. He announced that he would defeat all of them or pay out prize money, but still no one would take up his challenge.[citation needed]
Shortly after his return from England, Gama faced Raheem Bakhsh Sultani Wala inAllahabad. This bout eventually ended the long struggle between the two pillars of Indian wrestling of that time in favour of Gama and he won the title ofRustam-e-Hind or the lineal Champion of India. Later in his life when asked about who was his strongest opponent, Gama replied, "Raheem Bakhsh Sultani Wala".[27]
After beating Raheem Bakhsh Sultani Wala, Gama faced Pandit Biddu, who was one of the best wrestlers in India of that time (1916), and beat him.[28]
In 1922, during a visit to India, thePrince of Wales presented Gama with a silvermace.
Gama did not have any opponents until 1927, when it was announced that Gama and Zbyszko would face each other again. They met inPatiala in January 1928.[29] Entering the bout, Zbyszko "showed a strong build of body and muscle" and Gama, it was reported "looked much thinner than usual".[30] However, he managed to overpower the former easily and won the bout inside a minute, winning the Indian version of the linealWorld Wrestling Championship. Following the bout, Zbyszko praised him, calling him a "tiger".[31]
At forty-eight years old he was now known as the "great wrestler" of India.[12]
After defeating Zbyszko, Gama beat Jesse Petersen in February 1929. The bout lasted only one and a half minutes. This was the last bout that Gama fought during his career.[citation needed] In the 1940s he was invited by the Nizam of Hyderabad and defeated all his fighters. The Nizam then sent him to face the wrestler Balram Heeraman Singh Yadav(THE LION FROM HYDERABAD), who was never defeated in his life.The fight was very long, Gama was unable to defeat Heeraman and eventually neither wrestler won. After the independence and partitioning of India in 1947, Gama moved to Pakistan. Although Gama did not retire until 1952, he failed to find any other opponents. After his retirement he trained his nephew Bholu Pahalwan, who held the Pakistani wrestling championship for almost 20 years.[citation needed]
After thepartition of India in 1947, Gama moved toPakistan. During the Hindu–Muslim riots that broke out at the time of partition, Gama saved hundreds of Hindus from Muslim mob inLahore.[4][5] Although Gama did not retire until 1952, he failed to find any other opponents. Some other sources say he wrestled until 1955. After his retirement, he trained his nephew Bholu Pahalwan, who held the Pakistani wrestling championship for almost 20 years.[15]
His final days were difficult; he had five sons and four daughters and all the sons died young. When his youngest son Jalaluddin died in 1945 at the age of just thirteen, Gama was heartbroken and lost the power of speech for some days. He migrated to Pakistan at partition and tried his hand at different unsuccessful ventures including a bus service in Karachi called the "Gama Transport Service".[32] Gama was given land and monthly pension by the government and supported his medical expenses until his death.[33] He died inLahore,Pakistan on 23 May 1960 after a period of illness.
Kulsoom Nawaz, politician and wife of Pakistani prime ministerNawaz Sharif, was the granddaughter of Gama.[34]
Gama fought and won over five thousand matches.[35][32][36]Bruce Lee was an avid follower of Gama's training routine. Lee read articles about Gama and how he employed his exercises to build his legendary strength for wrestling, and Lee quickly incorporated them into his own routine. The training routines Lee used included "the cat stretch", and "the squat" (known as "baithak", and also known as the "deep-knee bend.").[37]
Today, a doughnut-shaped exercise disc called Hasli weighing 100 kg, used by him for squats and pushups, is housed at theNational Institute of Sports (NIS) Museum atPatiala, India.[38]
On 22 May 2022, search engineGoogle commemorated Gama with aDoodle on his 144th birth anniversary.[39] Google commented: "Gama’s legacy continues to inspire modern day fighters. Even Bruce Lee is a known admirer and incorporates aspects of Gama's conditioning into his own training routine!"[40]
Gama the Great (Ghulum Mohammed; b. 1888, d. 1953; Amritsar, Punjab, India; 5'8", 250 lbs.) was from a prominent wrestling family in India.
Gama the Great (Ghulum Mohammed; b. 1888, d. 1953; Amritsar, Punjab, India; 5'7", 250 lbs.) was from a prominent wrestling family in India.
Gama Pehalwan was born as Ghulam Mohammed in 1878 in Amritsar.
Ghulam Muhammad later known as the Gama Pehalwan was born in Amritsar on May 22, 1878.
He managed to get the Indian wrestling style introduced in the international games. He is solely responsible for earning international fame for this form of wrestling and was given the title of 'Rustam-e-Hind.'
An early-twentieth century studio photo of the famous Indian wrestler The Great Gama (Ghulam Mohammed, 1878-1960).
In recent years, the history of modern Indian wrestling - orkushti - has begun to receive scholarly attention. Most accounts agree that the last decades of the nineteenth century saw the coming of the modern form of this ancient Indian sport, with Indian wrestlers emerging from the confines of theirakhadas and fighting with their Western counterparts. Between 1910 and 1913, a wave of Indian wrestlers visited England and took the wrestling world by storm. The most iconic of them was the great Gama - the 'lion of Punjab' - arguably the greatest wrestler India has ever produced.
Great Gama, or Ghulam Muhammad, was a Kashmiri Muslim professional wrestler from the undivided India, who was a practitioner of what is known as "Pehlwani" wrestling in south asian countries like India and Pakistan.
