12-08-2008, 07:36 AM
(This post was last modified: 12-08-2008, 07:44 AM by Bharatvarsh.)
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->11. In your travels you have visited India - I know that yu had a chance meeting there with a Warrior of a unique time - Could you share that story?
I was in Delhi one time, doing some training with some Indian wrestlers. Also, I was doing some research in the state reference library there, on ancient Indian combative systems. I came across a book on Vajramushti, an old Indian method of wrestling in which the fighters wore knuckle dusters tied to their right hands. A sort of no-rules, 'vale-tudo' style of fighting but with brass knuckles. Pretty extreme!
Anyways, I obtained a copy of this book and decided to go to the state of Gujarat to track down any of the authors descendents. The authors were two brothers (the Jesthimullas) and had written the book more than fifty years ago. Without going into detail, I'll tell you that I through an extraordinary set of circumstances and an unlikely chain of events, I found one of these old guys. He took me into his house, was thrilled that I had an interest in this ancient art; and so took me to an old temple where he produced a large key and unlocked an old padlock that had had kept anyone from entering the Vajramushti training room for more than a two decades. His young nephews came a little later (both in their sixties) and I was treated to a display and a training session that still moves me when I think about it. It is a bitter-sweet memory, for they have no doubt passed on by now and all remnants of that amazing art are more than likely lost to the world. There you go; that's the short a tidy version of that story. A nice memory.
http://www.shotokankata.com/Articles/Inter...John%20Will.htm<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Actually Pandyan it still survives but heavily watered down, the Wodeyars supposedly have competitions in Mysore during Dasara.
But you are pretty much right, we don't need any British persecution, and will make it extinct on our own which is sad because it is a realistic style without all the fancy garbage you see in kung fu movies, which many Indians seem to love (and which will get them hammered by any decent fighter).
I was in Delhi one time, doing some training with some Indian wrestlers. Also, I was doing some research in the state reference library there, on ancient Indian combative systems. I came across a book on Vajramushti, an old Indian method of wrestling in which the fighters wore knuckle dusters tied to their right hands. A sort of no-rules, 'vale-tudo' style of fighting but with brass knuckles. Pretty extreme!
Anyways, I obtained a copy of this book and decided to go to the state of Gujarat to track down any of the authors descendents. The authors were two brothers (the Jesthimullas) and had written the book more than fifty years ago. Without going into detail, I'll tell you that I through an extraordinary set of circumstances and an unlikely chain of events, I found one of these old guys. He took me into his house, was thrilled that I had an interest in this ancient art; and so took me to an old temple where he produced a large key and unlocked an old padlock that had had kept anyone from entering the Vajramushti training room for more than a two decades. His young nephews came a little later (both in their sixties) and I was treated to a display and a training session that still moves me when I think about it. It is a bitter-sweet memory, for they have no doubt passed on by now and all remnants of that amazing art are more than likely lost to the world. There you go; that's the short a tidy version of that story. A nice memory.
http://www.shotokankata.com/Articles/Inter...John%20Will.htm<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Actually Pandyan it still survives but heavily watered down, the Wodeyars supposedly have competitions in Mysore during Dasara.
But you are pretty much right, we don't need any British persecution, and will make it extinct on our own which is sad because it is a realistic style without all the fancy garbage you see in kung fu movies, which many Indians seem to love (and which will get them hammered by any decent fighter).