Mallakhamba and its Types

India is widely known for its unique identity. The nation possesses divergent religions, customs and is rich with the treasure of sports. The sports coming from the Indian Soil demonstrate the puritanical traditions and the sturdy strength of the Nation. The sport of pole gymnastics, widely known as Mallakhamba, is the sport of Indian Origin. Mallakhamba is having a great ancient relevance and was earlier considered as the part of wrestler’s exercise, but the uniqueness of the sport became the reason for its popularity. Mallakhamba! The name itself indicates that 'Malla' means wrestler and 'Khamb' means pole the sport is having its core existence in the states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Hyderabad. The sport is known as the history’s hardest sport. Over the years, the sport of Mallakhamba has been tried and tested in almost 25 to 30 divergent types. At present, there are 16 forms that are practiced, but for the sport, only six types are used. There are three main variations of the sport which are as follows:

1.       Pole Mallakhamba: In this variation of Mallakhamba, a vertical wooden pole is fixed in the ground and the participants perform various acrobatic feats and poses while hanging on the pole. The pole is smeared with the castor oil, which helps to minimize the friction as the body comes in contact with the pole. The practitioners develop their grip, stamina and strength in the arms, legs and upper-body by mounting and dismounting. The practitioners utilize the pole for various complex calisthenics. The most common pole is known as the freestanding upright pole which is eight to ten inches in diameter and is planted into the ground. The pole used is made of teak or sheesham wood.

2.       Hanging Mallakhamba: The hanging mallakhamba is quite similar to the pole mallakhamba. The hanging mallakhamba is a wooden pole that is shorter in length that the standard pole and is hung from the chains and hooks, leaving a gap between the ground and the ground and the bottom of the mallakhamba. Usually, there is a string made up of Navar, on which mainly the girls are performing many types of elements.

3.       Rope Mallakhamba: In this variation, the participant performs exercises while hanging from a rope suspended from a support. Rope Mallakhamba was earlier performed on a cane but nowadays, due to unavailability of the good cane, a cotton rope is used. Performers are expected to perform various exercises without knotting the rope.

There is more variation of Mallakhamba that are practiced vividly by the practitioners. Niradhar Mallakhamba is the variation that is performed on a support less wooden pole. The Cane Mallakhamba is made up on the cane, on which players are performing the elements. Mallakhamba on Bottles is performed on the support of bottles and the Mallakhamb with the floating Platform is performed in the river water. There is also a unique version that is known as the Mallakhamba with weapons, in which the weapons are in the hand and are tighter to the body.