Discovery of Indian clubs

Walk into an old akhara, a traditional wrestling gym in north India, and you may see a wrestler swinging a heavy wooden club behind his back. The motion looks smooth and easy. It is not. This simple tool has built strong shoulders and firm grips for centuries. In the West, it came to be known by a name that points straight to its roots: Indian clubs.

In this article, I’ll explain what Indian clubs are, where they came from, how they reached Europe and America, and how people use them today. I have used trusted sources, and I’ve also fixed a few common mistakes about their history.

What Are Indian Clubs?

Indian clubs are wooden clubs shaped a bit like a bowling pin or a juggling pin. You hold one by the narrow end and swing it in circles and patterns around your body. The weight at the far end makes your muscles work to control it. That builds strength and helps you move freely.

In Sanskrit, a club like this is called a mudgara. In Iran, similar clubs are called meels. Sizes vary a lot. Light clubs weigh about a kilogram. Traditional heavy clubs in India could weigh up to about 35 kg, according to Wikipedia, and some sources mention clubs as heavy as 50 kg.

Where Did Indian Clubs Come From?

Club swinging is believed to have started among soldiers in India and Persia. They used it to gain strength, balance and speed. In India, the story is linked closely to two training tools, the gada and the mudgar.

The gada and the mudgar

The gada is a blunt mace from the Indian subcontinent. It has a round head on a shaft. In Hindu stories, the gada is often linked with Lord Hanuman, and fighting with a gada is described in the Mahabharata. For training, wrestlers use wooden versions called mudgar. They swing one or two of them behind the back in different ways. Wikipedia notes that this is very useful for building grip strength and shoulder endurance.

Mudgar are mentioned in the Arthashastra, the famous text on statecraft by Kautilya. It is dated to around the 4th century BCE. So the idea is very old indeed.

Clues from coins, books and paintings

History has left us many clues. Here are some, as listed in the Wikipedia history of Indian clubs.

• Several coins from the Mauryan era show club swinging.
• A gold coin from the Gupta era shows a king swinging a gada.
• A schist weight from Gandhara, dated to the 5th century, has a gada carved on it, which hints that the gada was a training tool.
• The Manasollasa, a text from the 12th century, describes training with clubs alongside wrestling.
• The Malla Purana, a 13th century text about wrestlers, mentions club swinging as part of their training.
• A Rajput painting from 1610 shows athletes swinging clubs while dancing.
• A Mughal painting from 1670 shows Indian athletes using clubs, lifting weights and doing mallakhamb, a pole sport.

In Tamil Nadu, there is also a related practice called karalakattai. People who practise it say it has 64 kinds of swings to work different parts of the body.

India’s long love of physical games goes far beyond clubs. You can read more in our article on the history of sports and games in India, or about a team sport with Indian roots in our post on the invention of kabaddi.

Clubs in the Akhara Today

In India, club training never really stopped. It lives on in pehlwani, the traditional wrestling of north India. Young wrestlers join an akhara and train under a guru. The training, called vyayam, mixes clubs with exercises that use the body’s own weight. These include the danda, a kind of push up, the bethak, a deep squat, and surya namaskar.

The akhara itself is special. Wrestlers train on soft earth instead of mats. The floor is raked and mixed with buttermilk, oil and red ochre, which gives it a reddish colour. Swinging a heavy mudgar on that red earth is a sight many visitors never forget.

The gada idea also travelled east. Wikipedia notes that chi ishi, a training tool used in karate in Japan, was inspired by the gada and mudgar.

How Indian Clubs Reached the West

The name “Indian clubs” came from British people who lived in India in the 19th century. They saw soldiers and wrestlers training with clubs and took the idea home.

The British made some big changes. Traditional Indian clubs were heavy, up to about 35 kg. The clubs adopted by the British army weighed only around 2 kg. They were also reshaped into lighter, slimmer forms that looked little like the old ones.

From Britain, the clubs spread to Europe, the Commonwealth and the United States. A man named Sim D. Kehoe is credited with bringing them from England to America. In the late Victorian period, they became a craze. Army cadets used them, and so did fashionable ladies. Some gyms were built just for club swinging classes.

Group classes were common. An instructor led, and a whole room swung their clubs together, a bit like an aerobics class today.

Indian clubs at the Olympics

Club swinging was even an Olympic event. It appeared in gymnastics at the 1904 Games and again in 1932. India has its own proud story at the Games, which you can read in our post on India’s Olympic history.

A surprising use

Here’s an odd bit of history. Around 1913 and 1914, the bodyguard group of the British suffragettes, women who fought for the right to vote, carried Indian clubs hidden under their clothes. They used them to defend against police batons.

Why Did They Fade, and Why Are They Back?

In the 1920s and 1930s, club swinging lost favour in Europe. Organised sports such as football grew. Gyms also began to use newer strength equipment.

In the 21st century, clubs are making a comeback. Fitness fans like them for gentle, flowing exercise and for working the shoulders. Makers now sell copies of old clubs as well as modern versions.

Indian clubs also left a mark on juggling. The modern juggling club was inspired by them. Wikipedia says DeWitt Cook first used Indian clubs for juggling in the 1800s.

Persian Meels: A Cousin, Not a Copy

Iran has a similar tradition. Heavy clubs called meel or mil are used in a sport called Varzesh e Pahlavani, practised in gyms called zurkhaneh, which means “house of strength”. Their use goes back at least to the Parthian and Sasanian periods, between 247 BCE and 651 CE.

The Iranian wrestler Gholamreza Takhti is one well known name linked with this tradition. In these gyms, a group still swings clubs together in time, led by one person, much like the old club classes of Victorian Britain.

Some online articles say that Persian or Egyptian wrestlers were the first to use Indian clubs. That isn’t supported by the sources I checked. Wikipedia says the Indian and Persian tools look alike because of shared roots, but they grew up separately in each culture.

How to Start With Indian Clubs Safely

If you’d like to try club swinging, here are some sensible tips. These are general fitness ideas, not medical advice.

1. Start light. Begin with a pair of light clubs, around a kilogram or less each. You can even practise with a water bottle first.
2. Learn simple circles. Small arm circles in front and to the side are a good start.
3. Move slowly. Focus on control, not speed.
4. Clear the space. Make sure nobody and nothing is in reach of the swing.
5. Find a teacher. An experienced coach can correct your form.
6. Listen to your body. If you have a shoulder or back problem, check with a doctor before you start.

For simple strength work without any tools, see our guide to basic bodyweight exercises you can do at home.

FAQs About Indian Clubs

What are Indian clubs used for?

They are swung in patterns to build strength, grip, balance and ease of movement, especially in the shoulders.

Why are they called Indian clubs?

British people living in India in the 19th century saw them used by Indian soldiers and wrestlers. They named them Indian clubs.

How old is club training in India?

Very old. The mudgar is mentioned in the Arthashastra, dated to about the 4th century BCE, and clubs appear on Mauryan and Gupta era coins.

How heavy are Indian clubs?

Modern exercise clubs can weigh about a kilogram. Traditional Indian clubs could weigh up to about 35 kg.

Were Indian clubs in the Olympics?

Yes. Club swinging was part of gymnastics at the 1904 and 1932 Olympic Games.

Are Indian clubs safe for beginners?

They can be, if you start with light clubs, move slowly and learn good form. People with injuries should ask a doctor first.

Final Thoughts

Indian clubs began as training tools for Indian soldiers and wrestlers. They travelled to Britain, swept through Victorian gyms and even reached the Olympics. Today, they’re back in fashion. The next time you see a pehlwan swinging a mudgar, you’ll know you’re watching a very old Indian tradition at work.