The Great Gama Pehlwan 144 Birth Anniversary | Google Doodle Tribute
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The Great Gama Ghulam Mohammad Baksh Butt
Google Pays Tribute To One Of Best Wrestlers With Doodle
The Great Gama Ghulam Mohammad Baksh Butt (May 22, 1878 – May 23, 1960), commonly known as Rustam e Hind (Hindi urdu Subcontinent for Rustam of India) and by the ring name The Great Gama, was an Indian Pehlwani wrestler and strongman . In the early 20th century The Great Gama was an undefeated World Wrestling Champion.
Born 1878 in Jabbowal Village, Amritsar District, Punjab Province, British Colonial India and awarded a version of the World Heavyweight Championship 15 October 1910. Unbeaten in a career spanning 52 years, he is considered one of the greatest fighters of all time. During the partition of India, the Great Gama saved the lives of many Hindus and then spent the rest of his days until his death on May 23, 1960 in Lahore, which became part of the newly formed Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
The Great Gama’s Profile
Birth name Ghulam Mohammad Baksh Butt
Born 22 May 1878 Jabbowal, Amritsar, Punjab, British India (now in Kapurthala, Punjab, India)
Died 23 May 1960 (aged 82)
Family Imam Baksh Pahalwan (Late brother) Kalsoom Nawaz Sharif (Late granddaughter)
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Gama Pahalwan ( The Great Gama )
Billed height 5 ft 8 in (173 cm)
Billed weight 250 lb (110 kg)
The Great Gama’s Early life
Ghulam Mohammad Baksh was born on 22 May 1878 in Jabbowal Village, Amritsar District, Punjab Province, British India (now Jabbowal, Kapurthala District, Punjab, India) into a Kashmiri Muslim family of the Bhatt clan, into a family of fighters Punjab -Region. He came from a wrestling family known for producing world-class wrestlers. Historians believe that the Baksh family were originally Kashmiri Brahmins (Butt) who converted to Islam during Muslim rule in Kashmir. Gama had two wives: one in Punjab and the other in Vadodara, Gujarat, India. After the death of his father, Muhammad Aziz Baksh, Gama was taken into the care of his maternal grandfather, Nun Pahalwan, at the age of six.
After his death, Gama was mentored by his uncle Ida, another wrestler, who also began coaching Gama in wrestling. First noticed at the age of ten in 1888 when he was participating in a strongman competition in Jodhpur which involved many strenuous exercises such as squats. The competition featured over four hundred wrestlers and Gama was in the last fifteen and was declared the winner by the Maharaja of Jodhpur due to his young age. Gama was later trained by the Maharajah of Datia.
The Great Gama’s Training
Gama’s daily training consisted of fighting at the Akhada (Court) with forty of his fellow combatants. He would complete at least five thousand baithaks (Indian word for squats) and three thousand dands (Indian word for push-ups) in a day and sometimes even more in 30 to 45 minutes each, performing a donut–shaped wrestling apparatus called a hasli 1 quintal (approx .100 kilos).
The Great Gama’s Career
First encounter with Raheem Bakhsh Sultaniwala
Gama rose to fame in 1895 at the age of 17 when he challenged then Indian wrestling champion, middle-aged Raheem Bakhsh Sultani Wala, another Kashmiri ethnic wrestler from Gujranwala, now in Punjab, Pakistan. At around 7 feet tall and with a very impressive record of wins and losses, Raheem should easily defeat the 5’7″ Gama.
Raheem’s only disadvantage was his age as he was much older than Gama and nearing the end of his career. The fight with Raheem was the turning point in Gama’s career. After that, he was considered the next contender for the RustameHind title, or the Indian Wrestling Championship. In the first game, Gama stayed on the defensive, but in the second, Gama went on the offensive.
Despite profuse bleeding from his nose and ears, he managed to cause major damage to Raheem Bakhsh. By 1910, Gama had defeated every major Indian wrestler against him except champion Raheem Bakhsh Sultani Wala (the RustameHind or Linear Champion of India). At that time he turned his attention to the rest of the world. Accompanied by his younger brother Imam Bakhsh, Gama sailed to England to compete with Western wrestlers but was unable to gain immediate entry due to his small stature.
Tournament in London
In London, Gama challenged that he could throw three fighters in each weight class in thirty minutes. However, this announcement was seen as a hoax by the wrestlers and their wrestling promoter RB Benjamin. For a long time no one reported to accept the challenge. To break the ice, Gama gave certain heavyweight contenders another challenge. He challenged Stanislaus Zbyszko and Frank Gotch to either beat them or pay them the prize money and go home.
The first professional wrestler to take up his challenge was American Benjamin Roller. In the fight, Gama pinned Roller in 1min 40s the first time and 9mins 10s the other time. On the second day, he defeated 12, fighters, gaining entry to the official tournament. For a long time no one reported to accept the challenge. To break the ice, Gama gave certain heavyweight contenders another challenge.
He challenged Stanislaus Zbyszko and Frank Gotch, either beat them or paid them the prize money and went home. The first professional wrestler to accept his challenge was American Benjamin Roller. In the fight, Gama pinned Roller in 1min 40s the first time and 9mins 10s the other time. On the second day, he defeated 12, fighters, gaining entry to the official tournament
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The Great Gama’s Match with Stanislaus Zbyszko
He faced world champion Stanislaus Zbyszko and the date of the fight was set for September 10, 1910. Zbyszko was then considered one of the best fighters in the world; and then he accepted the gargantuan challenge from India’s feared Great Gama, an undefeated champion unsuccessful in his attempts to lure Frank Gotch into a match. And so, on September 10, 1910, Zbyszko met the Great Gama in the final of the John Bull World Championship in London. The match was worth £250 in prize money, and the John Bull Belt. Within a minute, Zbyszko was brought down and stayed in that position for the remaining 2 hours and 35 minutes of the game.
There were a few brief moments when Zbyszko got up, but he ended up back in his previous position. Developing a defensive strategy, hugging the mat to nullify Great Gama’s greatest strengths, Zbyszko battled the Indian legend to a tie after nearly three hours of battle, though Zbyszko’s lack of tenacity angered many of the fans in attendance.
However, Zbyszko still became one of the few fighters to meet the Great Gama without going down in defeat; The two men met again on September 17, 1910. That day, Zbyszko didn’t show up and Gama was declared the winner by default. He was awarded the prize and the John Bull Belt. Gama received this belt with the title of Rustame Zamana or World Champion but not outright World Champion as he had not defeated Zbyszko in the ring.
Bouts against American and European champions
During this tour, Gama defeated some of the most respected wrestlers in the world, “Doc” Benjamin Roller from the United States, Maurice Deriaz from Switzerland, Johann Lemm (European Champion) from Switzerland and Jesse Peterson (World Champion) from Sweden. In the match against Roller, Gama “Doc” threw 13 times in the 15-minute match.
Gama now challenged the rest of those claiming the title of world champion, including Japanese judo champion Taro Miyake, George Hackenschmidt of Russia and Frank Gotch of the United States; each declined his invitation to enter the ring to confront him. At one point, Gama offered to fight twenty English fighters back-to-back to face some sort of competition. Great Gama announced that he would either defeat them all or pay a cash prize, but no one would take his challenge.
The Great Gama’s Final encounter with Raheem Bakhsh Sultani Wala
Shortly Great Gama return from England, Gama met Raheem Bakhsh Sultani Wala in Allahabad. This fight finally ended the long struggle between the two mainstays of Indian wrestling at the time in favor of Gama and he won the RustameHind or Linear Champion of India title. Later in his life, when asked who his strongest opponent was, Gama replied, “Raheem Bakhsh Sultani Wala.”
Rematch with Zbyszko
After defeating Raheem Bakhsh Sultani Wala, Gama met and defeated Pandit Biddu, one of the best fighters in India at that time (1916). In 1922, the Prince of Wales presented Gama with a silver mace during a visit to India.
The Great Gama had no opponent until 1927, when it was announced that Gama and Zbyszko would meet again. They met in Patiala in January 1928. When Zbyszko went into battle “he displayed a strong physique and muscles” and Gama reportedly appeared “much slimmer than usual”.
However, he managed to easily overpower the former and won the fight within a minute, thereby winning the Indian version of the World Linear Wrestling Championship. After the fight, Zbyszko praised him, calling him a “Tiger” . At forty-eight, he was now known as the “Great Fighter” of India. After defeating Zbyszko, Gama defeated Jesse Petersen in February 1929. The fight lasted only a minute and a half. This was the last fight Gama fought during his career.
After the independence and partition of India in 1947, Gama moved to Pakistan. During the Hindu-Muslim riots that broke out at the time of partition, Gama Muslims rescued hundreds of Hindus from the mob in Lahore. Although Gama did not retire until 1952, he found no other opponents. Some other sources say he wrestled until 1955. After retiring, he coached his nephew Bholu Pahalwan who held the Pakistan Wrestling Championship for almost 20 years.
Gama fought and won more than five thousand fights. His last 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 thirteen, Gama was heartbroken and lost the ability to speak for a few days. He emigrated to Pakistan at partition and unsuccessfully tried his hand at various ventures, including a bus service in Karachi called “Gama Transport Service”.
Gama received land and a monthly state pension from 1 and supported his medical expenses until his death. Great Gama died on May 23, 1960 in Lahore, Pakistan after a long illness. Kulsoom Nawaz, the First Lady of Pakistan and wife of Nawaz Sharif, who remained Prime Minister of Pakistan, was the granddaughter of The Great Gama
The Great Gama’s Legacy
Bruce Lee was an avid supporter of Gama’s training program. Lee read articles about Great Gama and how he used his exercises to build his legendary wrestling strength, and Lee quickly incorporated them into his own routine. Workout routines Lee used included “The Cat Stretch” and “The Squat” (known as “Baithak” and also known as “Deep Knee Bend”). Today in the National Institute of Sports (NIS) Museum in Patiala, India, there is a donut-shaped exercise disc called Hasli that weighs 100 kg and is used for squats and push-ups.
On May 22, 2022, the search engine Google Gama commemorated her 144th birthday with a doodle. Google commented, “Gama’s legacy continues to inspire fighters today. Even Bruce Lee is a well-known fan and incorporates aspects of Gama’s conditioning into his own training routine!”
People also ask about The Great Gama
Who defeated The Great Gama?
Last Match with Raheem Bakhsh Sultani Wala This match finally ended the long struggle between the two mainstays of Indian wrestling at the time in favor of Gama and he won the title of Rustame Hind or Lineal (Outright) Champion of India.
Who was The Great Gama?
The Great Gama, Gama Pehalwan, commonly known by his ring name, was born Ghulam Muhammad Baksh on May 22, 1878 (aged 82) into a traditional Muslim family of Kashmiri wrestlers in the village of Jabbowal, Amritsar, Punjab, British India. His family was destined to produce fine, excellent fighters.
WHO lifted 1200 kg stone?
Gulaam Mohammed alias Great Gama Pehelwan
A young man in his 20s took Barodians breathless in 1902 when he lifted a rock weighing more than 1,200 kilograms. The world famous Gulaam Mohammed aka Grand Gama Pehelwan had lifted the stone which lay in Nazarbaug Palace near Mandvi.
Very nice… the best part is that Google paid tribute to well known personality.
Google remembers one of the best wrestling champion of the world with creative doodle …
Great initiative to provide these information.