What Is Kushti? The Complete Guide to India's Traditional Wrestling
Kushti is the traditional form of wrestling practised across the Indian subcontinent, contested on a prepared earth surface called mitti rather than a mat. Wrestlers, known as pehlwans, train under a guru in a wrestling school called an akhara, following a strict regimen of diet and discipline.
Long before Olympic freestyle wrestling arrived in India, there was kushti — a form of wrestling fought not on a padded mat but on prepared earth, inside a wrestling school called an akhara. Kushti (also called pehlwani) is one of the oldest continuously practised combat sports in South Asia, and in cities like Kolhapur, Varanasi and across Haryana, it remains a living tradition rather than a museum piece.
Where kushti comes from
Kushti's modern form took shape during the Mughal era, when Persian koshti pahlevani wrestling blended with the native South Asian tradition of malla-yuddha, a combat wrestling style described in ancient Indian texts. Over centuries this fusion produced a distinct sport with its own vocabulary, etiquette and training philosophy — one that spread through royal courts, village fairs and city akharas alike.
By the early twentieth century, kushti had produced wrestlers of genuine international reputation. The most famous, the Great Gama, is widely remembered as unbeaten across a career of several decades, and pehlwans from Indian akharas regularly competed against European wrestlers of the era.
The akhara: kushti's training ground
An akhara is far more than a gym. It is a wrestling school, usually built around a sunken pit filled with fine earth, where wrestlers live, train and are mentored by a guru (sometimes called an ustad). The word for this local wrestling ground changes by region — talim in Maharashtra, akhara across the north, garadi mane in parts of Karnataka — but the institution is the same everywhere: discipline, hierarchy, and a daily rhythm built around training.
Training typically begins before sunrise. A wrestler's day includes physical conditioning — dands (a wrestling-specific push-up) and baithaks (deep squats), sometimes performed in the hundreds — followed by supervised sparring in the pit and, in many akharas, a second training session in the evening.
The mitti: why the surface matters
The clay surface a wrestler fights on is called mitti, and preparing it is itself a ritual. Traditional akharas turn the earth with mustard oil, ghee, buttermilk and turmeric, which softens the ground to cushion falls and is believed to have antiseptic properties. Fighting on mitti changes the sport itself: grip, footing and the pace of a bout all differ from wrestling on a mat, which is why many pehlwans describe mitti kushti and mat-based freestyle wrestling as related but distinct disciplines.
How a kushti bout works
A traditional bout, or kushti match, has no fixed time limit in its purest form — it continues until one wrestler pins the other's shoulders to the ground, or until a referee calls the contest. Wrestlers are typically paired by weight and reputation, and a well-matched bout between two respected pehlwans is the centrepiece of a dangal, the open wrestling tournament format through which most competitive kushti is organised.
Technique in kushti draws on a large vocabulary of holds and throws collectively called daaw. Mastering daaw, rather than relying purely on strength, is what separates an experienced pehlwan from a merely powerful one.
Kushti's place today
Kushti has never fully disappeared, but it has changed. Many of India's most successful freestyle and Olympic wrestlers — several from Haryana's dense network of akharas — began their training on mitti before transitioning to mat wrestling for international competition. At the same time, traditional dangals continue to draw large crowds in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Karnataka, and titles like Maharashtra Kesari and Hind Kesari remain some of the most respected honours a pehlwan can hold.
Understanding kushti means understanding both halves of that story: an ancient discipline of diet, devotion and daily training, and a sport that continues to produce serious competitive wrestlers today.
Frequently asked questions
Is kushti the same as freestyle wrestling?
No. Kushti is traditionally fought on an earth surface (mitti) under its own rule set and etiquette, while freestyle wrestling is an Olympic mat sport with international scoring rules. Many wrestlers train in both.
What do you call a kushti wrestler?
A kushti wrestler is called a pehlwan. An akhara's head coach or master is typically addressed as guru or ustad.
Where is kushti most actively practised in India today?
Maharashtra (especially Kolhapur and Pune), Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and northern Karnataka all have active, long-running akhara traditions.