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Today, when it seems difficult to imagine staying fit without a gym, protein shake and fitness trainer, at that time a wrestler emerged from the soil of India who, without any modern facility, forced the whole world to kneel with his strength. This is the story of ‘The Great Gama’ i.e. Ghulam Hussain, whose name is still written at the top among the world’s greatest wrestlers and whom no one could defeat in his entire life.
Father passed away after six years, but courage did not break
Gama was born on 22 May 1878 in the then princely state of Datia which is today part of Madhya Pradesh. His real name was Ghulam Hussain and his father Aziz Baksh himself was a wrestler who showed his son the path to the arena since childhood. But fate dealt the biggest blow when Gama was only six years old and his father passed away. After this, Mamu and Nana took care of him and continued his wrestling training. This difficult childhood life became the foundation of Gama’s iron intentions.
Defeated 400 wrestlers at just 10 years old
The first major evidence of Gamma’s power came when he was just 10 years old. He surprised everyone by doing the highest number of sit-ups among 400 wrestlers in a competition. Maharaja Jaswant Singh of Jodhpur was so impressed by the strength and stamina of this child that he took Gama under his protection and got him trained from Ustad Madho Singh. Gama himself later told that during that period, he held so many meetings that his entire body became stiff and he could not get up from the cot for a week, but this struggle made him extraordinary.
15 hours of exercise every day, this was Gama’s arena
Gama’s daily routine was no less than austerity. About 15 hours of rigorous exercise every day was the rule of his life. His daily routine was 2 thousand punishments, 5 thousand meetings and rotating the mug 2 thousand times. Apart from this, he used to run for a mile with a heavy stone around his neck. According to wrestler Barkat Ali, Gama used to do lower body exercises in the morning and upper body exercises in the afternoon and would walk for hours in the evening. It was his steadfast rule to wake up at four in the morning and never miss his practice, no matter what the weather. This was the reason why even at the age of 60, people considered him the most powerful wrestler in the world.
10 liters of milk and 6 chickens, this was Gama’s incredible diet
The biggest secret of Gamma’s strength was her dosage. 10 to 20 liters of milk, ghee, butter, almonds, fruits and mutton yakhni were part of his diet every day. Many reports claimed that he used to eat 6 chickens daily. Only after this rich and nutritious diet was he able to perform long hours of rigorous exercise. This combination of discipline, hard work and proper eating habits made him different from all other wrestlers.
Panic created in London, foreign wrestlers also got killed
When Gama reached London in 1910, he openly challenged the famous wrestlers of the world. He defeated American wrestler Benjamin ‘Doc’ Roller in less than two minutes. After this, his most famous fight took place against World Champion Stanislaw Zbyshko of Poland. Zbyshko continued to defend himself throughout the match and the wrestling remained inconclusive, but in the next match he did not enter the field and Gama was declared the winner. He was then awarded the prestigious ‘John Bull Golden Belt’ and was acknowledged as an undefeated wrestler in newspapers around the world.
The game ended in 30 seconds in Patiala, one lakh spectators were stunned
In 1928, there was a rematch with Zbyshko in Patiala. More than one lakh spectators had gathered to see it. Everyone thought that the wrestling would last for hours, so lighting was also arranged for the night. But as soon as Gama started, he defeated Zbyshko in just 30 seconds and the entire ground echoed with slogans in his name. The Maharaja of Patiala was so pleased that he rewarded Gama with a pearl necklace, a silver mace and an entire village.
Lahore after partition, and then silence forever
After the partition of India and Pakistan, Gama moved to Lahore where he also did transport business for some time. In the year 1954, he complained of high blood pressure but he remained associated with wrestling till his last days. Gama’s granddaughter Kulsoom Nawaz, fond of literature and poetry, later became the wife of former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif. On May 23, 1960, The Great Gamma said goodbye to this world. The wrestler who never faced defeat in his entire life is finally gone forever, but the story of his strength, discipline and victory is still the brightest chapter in the history of Indian sports.
