Today, June 15, is World Mallakhamb Day.
The following verse is from a 17th century memorial stone, which, according to the Mysore Archaeological Department, was located on the southern bank of the Jayamangali river near the town of Koraṭagere in Tumkur district, Karnataka.
Nuts or Indian Jugglers, ca. 1830, by Sir Charles D’Oyly, Yale Center for British Art
ekā laṅghikadhītā vaṃsaṃ abhiruyha tassa upari
parivattitvā ākāse caṅkamānā naccati c’eva gāyati
“A certain female tumbler climbed a pole, turned somersaults thereon,
and balanced herself on the tip of the pole, danced and sang”.
Yellakka was a member of a nomadic group of circus-like street performers (cāraṇa) and was likely a Naṭ or Dommara. It is difficult to know with certainty, however the stone memorialised where she seems to have fallen, while dancing on a pole, and died.
Yellakka’s talent was such that although likely a member of what people believed was a ‘criminal’ caste, she was memorialised.
This image presents a likely scenario to what might have occurred. While musicians and other troupe members played their part, an eager crowd looks on as the dancer stands atop her pole.
There are many anecdotal mentions of pole and rope dancing involving tumbler-acrobats found across Asia’s history. In ancient India, the earliest mention is in the Vājaseneyīsaṃhitā (800–600 BCE) and its commentary, the Śatapathabrāhmaṇa (300 BCE).
Just how far back does the ancestry of pole-climbing acrobats go?
These outcast acrobats (Caṇḍālas) were said to have lived in villages deep in the Vindhya mountains and “earned their living by dancing on the tip of the pole” (vaṃśa-agra-nṛtta-jīvin).
A popular story is that of Uggrasena’s “acrobat”. It is about a merchant’s son who falls in love with a pole dancing acrobat and leaves his family to join the troupe. Around 500 BCE, it seems that these street performing tribes had already organised into professional guilds (śreṇi/vaṇiggrāma), in part, to stop from being underpaid, for example.
Amar Chithra Katha’s ‘The Acrobat.’
Though, there are much older mentions of professional acrobats who were specifically trained and exported from towns in modern-day Syria such as Mari (Tell Hariri) and Ebla (Tell Mardikh) (2320 BCE).
Similar to what occurred in ancient India, the huppû (acrobat) were employed by royal courts and at temples, particularly for worship of the goddess Ishtar and while celebrating the king’s safe return and arrival of special visitors.
These events included sacred meals and the singing of lamentations by Sumerian priests accompanied by drums. These acts were punctuated by staged activities including acrobatic-wrestling displays, some of which involved the Biblical-era worship of the golden calf mentioned in Exodus 32.
Across the ancient world, the tumbler-acrobat was the veritable “rock star.”
None other than these highly trained and fearless performers could hold the attention of a crowd. Since as early as 4,000 years ago, merchant traders (habiru) in Mesopotamia traversed the ancient highways in long caravans. Similar to ancient India, these caravaneers retained troupes of performers and ‘advance men’ for their ‘acts of awe’ to draw the crowds and put them in the mood to purchase.
However, these performers likely have even more ancient roots to distant shamanic rituals involving poles as symbols of royalty, which saw them work in funeral processions and literally on the edge of life and death – as they climbed up tall poles to dance on ropes – where they displayed supreme athleticism, grace, strength, concentration and fearlessness. It is no wonder that kings and wealthy merchants lavished them with gold and land as they were thought to be superhuman.
The following images were painted in the square of Fort George, Madras in the early 1800s by Johann Bertuch.
Picture book for Children Vol. 6, 1807.
Mallakhamb is a Marathi word which means the “wrestler’s pole.” The word is difficult to trace before 1750-1800 CE, though its origins are wrongly claimed to be 800 years old or even several thousand years old.
Importantly, it was not a competitive sport. Rather, it was an auxiliary training exercise for wrestlers and soldiers across the Mahratta kingdom of the Deccan.
Mallakhamb’s popular biography is thought to have begun in the 12th century CE. Though, this is only partly correct as the Mānasollāsa employs the term stambha-śrama (pole exercise) instead of mallakhamb.
In this text, pole exercise was a marginal, if not novel, exercise, which only featured in a paltry three verses in the wrestling section. How, why, from where and whom did the wrestlers become inspired to climb a pole in the evening?
A possible answer lies with the wandering troupes of “pole dancing” acrobats, who travelled between the Deccan, parts of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, and Mysore well before and after its first mention 800 years ago.
Historical accounts share anecdotal glimpses of travelling performers who used the tall straight roots of the banyan tree as an apparatus for entertainment and training.
Mallakhamb is promoted as “one of the most ancient sports of India”, if not the world.
It was not until 1961 that the Gymnastics Federation of India initiated the National Mallakhamb Championships and not until 1981 that the Mallakhamb Federation of India was created.
Possibly from Bundi, late 18th century, Deśākhya Rāginī.
Today, mallakhamb is celebrated as an Indian sport and said to be the source of all things pole-related such as pole dancing, pole yoga, and, of course, the enigmatic portmanteau, Polga™.
While a detailed analysis of its history is found in this in-depth article, which focuses on the last Peshwa, Bajirao II’s reign and peculiarities of its biography, the early 20th century promoters of mallakhamb such as L.N. Sapre argued that there was no historical connection between haṭhayoga’s āsanas and mallakhamb, even if they are complimentary.
The idea of “pole yoga” does not seem to have emerged until the late 19th century. While the first book was not published until 1922, a more recent article in the Deccan Chronicle has claimed that “Pole dancing and pole yoga can’t be considered as yoga.”
Internationally, mallakhamb was first demonstrated at the Berlin Olympic Games (1936).
The Indian team, which trained at Shree Hanuman Vyayam Prasarak Mandal, Amravati, Maharashtra, received special medals from Hitler, after he took an interest in the sport. It then reappeared at the Lingiad in Stockholm (1949), which was a post-war, non-competitive gymnastic event.
The subsequent Europe tour further promoted India’s cultural heritage abroad. However, while it featured at the 2021 summer games in Tokyo, it was with a reduced team due to the pandemic.
The creation of an international federation for the competitive sport of mallakhamb means it is one step closer to achieving this goal. As such, the World Mallakhamb Federation (WMF) claims that its “next major goal is to make Mallakhamb an ‘Olympic sport.’”
The current female world champion, Keiko Takemoto from Osaka, Japan.
However, the sport has stiff competition from the similar looking pole sport. Its governing body is the International Pole Sports Federation, which has ticked more of the necessary boxes required to gain Olympic competitive status, compared to the WMF.
Ultimately, if pole sport was to achieve competitive status ahead of mallakhamb, this would seemingly nullify any chance of mallakhamb being included.
The following image shows acrobats dancing around a bamboo pole while a woman performs a sword dance on top. It is of unknown providence, though it is part of the Rāgamālā art and is known as the Deśākhya Rāginī.
The 1901 Madras Census Report provides information about several pole dancing acrobatic groups, which are described as having had a “very low position in the social scale, and always perform in public streets and bazaars.” In another report, a class of Telugu jugglers and acrobats are described as “wrestlers” who “climb high posts” and perform “rope walking”, while women “act as common prostitutes.”
The Dombar were nomadic performers and court acrobats during the Vijayanagara empire. A sub-group of the Dombars – the Nattukattāda Nāyanmars – worshipped Kamātchiamamma – and became famous for swinging a child from atop a pole as it was tied to a rope.
Another group, the Pahalwān Gopāls, were a travelling group of wrestlers and gymnasts who belonged mainly to Hyderabad. The Khām Gopāls were named as such because of their use of a long pole (khām) in their acrobatic feats. Similar names for related groups who roamed around Mysore and Tanjore were Kalaikūttādi (pole-dancer) and Ārya Kūttādi.
Castes and Tribes of Southern India Vol. 2 of 7
Such a spectacle often included acrobatic entertainment atop a lofty bamboo pole while spinning around in circles. This was enabled by a socket fixed to an iron plate that was placed in one’s loin cloth and attached via a spike to the pole. This silent footage, from 1929, shows a likely Marathi-speaking Ārē Dommara man in a video titled, the “Indian acrobat”. While climbing around the pole, he holds it in similar ways that mallakhamb athletes and stage performers use today.
There certainly seems to be much more to mallakhamb’s history. So too, the rich and diverse ways in which acrobats, either with or without poles or swords, have entertained and amazed the public is surely deserving of more attention. These death-defying performers were the “rockstars” of the ancient world. They were fearless, strong-willed, and focused on the dangerous occupation that could, and sometimes did, result in death.
Their ancient links to various fertility cults and goddesses, as well as royal power lent them further mysterious appeal, as well as social power. They were more than just “entertainers.”
This is evidenced in ancient Greek Symposia and the writings of Strabo and Philostratos, for example, just as much as it is by King Menander and many others found in India’s ancient texts. These final images show an indelible influence from medieval acrobats on the modern presentation of mallakhamb.
Mallakhamb is a unique sport. While it might be mostly confined to the Deccan and, for many, may be a “Marathi sport”, it has, nonetheless, gathered a small but inspired global following. It is not for everyone, even though it is definitely a spectacle to see.
Still, on this Mallakhamb Day, it is worth thinking about its rich and dynamic history, which certainly seems to involve more than just wrestlers. Even though it might not be going as steadily global as its promoters might like, it is certainly entertaining to watch, if not try.
Based in Japan, Patrick McCartney is trained in archaeology, political-economic anthropology, sociolinguists, historical sociology, and classical philology. His work focuses on documenting the imaginative consumption and biographies of yoga, Sanskrit, and Buddhism. He tweets @psdmccartney and @yogascapesinjap.
