For those who are interested in reading about the wrestling shows of the past era, I am noting down below a few of the memorable events in history. The sport of wrestling has a background in Pakistan.  The country was alive with wrestlers during  the 1950's and 60's.  This used to be a wrestling stronghold where the Local Wrestlers or Pehlwans took pride in introducing themselves to the Public.

The Bholu Brothers  were the part of the Gama Wrestling Family. They were the practitioners of a form of Wrestling known as Pehlwani in this region.  A wrestler is called Pehalwan in the native language. The word Pehalwan can also be written as Pahalwan or Pehlwan etc.  The Pehalwans or wrestlers known as Great Gama, Imam Bakhsh, Bholu and Aslam were ranked among the big names of those earlier times.  Especially the wrestlers like Great Gama and the Pakistani champion, Bholu Pahalwan never lost a fight in their lifetime and remained unbeatable. That is why they were regarded the strongest force in wrestling. And perhaps the best in the world.  An average man in this region grew up thinking of the Great Gama and Bholu as the greatest. And the much credit goes to this Gama wrestling family for keeping the game of wrestling alive in Pakistan for a long time after the Partition of Indian Subcontinent. 

In Pakistan during the past era, Wrestling was not just an entertainment but the general public viewed it differently. It was taken seriously as befits the home of true champions of the world. The sport of wrestling was an affair of science, skill and strength. The Clowns, freaks and showmanship types were kept outside the arenas. Before the Indian partition, Catch wrestling contests became very popular in Europe involving the likes of national champion, Great Gama, Imam Baksh and the original Ghulam from India. Wrestling history is hard to pin down. I think wrestling was a reputable sport before the Indian Partition and degraded after time into its current state which is certainly not the sport of the Great Gama or Imam Bakhsh Pehalwan.  

In the bygone days Wrestling has reached Pakistan with the coming of the Mughal Empire. It soon became the most popular sport. The big important bouts attracted the gates of well over 100,000 fans. Lahore was one of the home of Pakistani wrestling. It used to have 600 gymnasiums where something like 10,000 wrestlers trained and studied under well-known instructors. The wrestling students began their rigorous training when they were still teenagers. Until they were 20 they have molded their bodies with physical training, which began at 3 a.m. each day. Five hours of exercises were followed by 2 hours of work-out on the mat where the techniques of applying the various holds were revealed, taught and perfected. Though the mode of wrestling was changing throughout the world after centuries of evolution and the Pakistani wrestling scene was shrinking but the spirit of contest still preserved in Pakistan where basically the art of wrestling was different from the western style. While catch as catch can and American freestyle were forms generally favored in the West. The Pakistani wrestling strictly prevented all rough-house tactics. Use was made of the master holds involving very high degree of muscular strength and brawn. Once a match was started it ended only when a pin fall was recorded. There were no rounds, hence few draws were recorded. The match ended when the adversary was thrown flat on his back with both shoulder blades touching the ground.

In the bygone days the top class Indian wrestlers were patronized by Maharaja's and Nawabs. Before the Indian partition, wrestlers were state pets. But the scene was considerably different after the Indian partition. The Government of Pakistan did not took keen interest in the sport, so after partition the wrestlers or Pehlwans had to find a way to make some money and earn their living. It was the survival of the fittest. The top wrestlers  for their own benefits decided to popularize the art of conventional wrestling known as Desi Kushti. Dangals and tournaments took place in all big cities of Pakistan and prizes and purses were awarded. The big events were the national championships in which the countries finest talents participated. The victor was awarded the huge sum of purse money and a silver and gold mace. Pakistan produced the best wrestlers of the world with Bholu Pehalwan as their champion--- and perhaps the best in the world. Then there were his brothers ۱ﺴﻟم ASLAM, the conqueror of Bert Assirati, AZAM Pehalwan,"The Rustam-e-Hind and champion of the Far East", AKRAM Pahalwan, "The Champion of the Middle East, Kenya and Malaya" and  the younger brother "GOGA Pehalwan", the Asian Champion,  who defeated the Indian Champion Gunpat Andolkar in 65 minutes and the No.1 challenger Saidi of Punjab in 81 minutes. Others of repute were the No.1 contender; Younus Gujranwalia, Kala Pehalwan;the lion of Punjab,  Yasin, Sharif, Azal son of Goonga Pehalwan . These were the few of the top liners in Pakistani wrestling. This was the golden age of the sport and there was plenty of action. The Pakistani Pahlwans were alive and dominated the wrestling world.  These were the days of the Bholu Brothers  and the advent of freestyle wrestling in Pakistan.  

But there were hardly any wrestling shows on the Pakistani television during the 60's . Therefore the wrestling fans used to pick up the American Wrestling Magazines for the local book stores to stay informed. Back in the 70's the Pakistani Television started showing International wrestling matches on PTV. The Pakistan Television Corporation purchased very old wrestling films from America, featuring westerners like Crusher, Destroyer, Lou thesz and Fritz Von Erich.  I saw the Indian wrestler Dara Singh beating an Italian wrestler, Tony on one occasion. But they never featured the Bholu Brothers wrestling shows on TV. The Bholu Brothers have tackle westerners that have now faded into history.  George Gordianko , Paul "Butcher" Vachon,  Mr. Universe; Earl Maynard, The Mighty Chang of the James Bond 007 fame and Roy Heffernan of the Australian Kangaroos are just few of the highly regarded  westerners that these fabulous Brothers have tackle successfully during the past.  But most of their wrestling opponents were Indian and Pakistani grapplers like the frontline Haji Afzal and the tremendous Bhola Gadi. The wrestlers of the west often moved from city to city and country to country and changed their names occasionally so it’s difficult to track them down too. Similarly the Indian wrestlers who fought in the west sometimes changed their names too. These wrestlers need people willing to give an honest assessment of their careers. The most difficult task is to find out about their matches of the past against the foreign wrestlers. The question is that why didn't the Bholu Brothers ever wrestled champions like Lou Thesz or  the famous Karl Gotch ? This probably happened because the Bholu's were hard people to deal with. So they remained disorganized and were not managed properly  by their wrestling promoters.  As Author Dave Pirie writes in the August 1967 issue of The Wrestler  Magazine that     " I admires the skills of the Bholu Brothers when I see them wrestle in the ring but not enough to hail them as the world's best.  They should have wrestled under a promoter capable of good match making and capable of presenting their wrestling matches as per schedule. This was a very colorful group, a terrific attraction. And would have gone a long way only if it would have been presented up to the standards to which the westerners were accustomed".  The professional wrestler, Karl Gotch was a tough man to cross. He was a legendary catch wrestler and trained champions like Antonio Inoki who has defeated, Akram Pahalwan in 1976. His wrestling matches with these wrestlers would have been of great importance in finding out the abilities of these wrestlers. We can’t determine the class and rank of our wrestlers without comparing them with the westerners of that magnitude.  The major part of the Bholu's wrestling career is still buried in history.  The majority of people who personally knew these men are no longer alive today. The new generation is totally unaware of these native fighters. However  If we could find and see the photos or dates of such wrestling events then we may be able to figure it out. But now there are many stories that live on. But of course like many things else that is also lost to the sands of time.

Then came the 1970's, "the era when the  Pakistani wrestling scene shrunk and the standard of wrestling deteriorated". There were hardly any Pakistani wrestlers left to compete in professional wrestling.  The performance of these wrestlers  became Inferior. The Pakistani wrestling community collapsed socially and suffered financial losses. The sport of Pehlwani was strongly rooted in the traditions and customs of the ancient India so it failed to keep pace with the changing times and thus disappeared into history.  The wrestling clubs were shut down and turned into bodybuilding centers or something else and the survival became difficult for the Pakistani wrestlers.  Many wrestlers adopted other professions to earn their living in order to live. Others perished, died or left at the mercy of time. Some of them became  gang members and turned into mafia element.  The status of Pakistani wrestlers diminished to the lowest ranks in the society. They lost the support of Pakistani wrestling fans and become unpopular. And during the 70's, the local wrestling heroes completely  vanished from the scene.  The curtain was drawn on the Pakistani wrestling scene.  It was taken over by other factors of the Pakistani social life like the Cricket culture or the white collar culture etc.   And so a dazzling era of action came to an end in Pakistan. And Nowadays the famous Pehlwans or wrestlers are rarely seen around in the country. The most common thing about them is, that the great ones are all dead. All that remains now are questions as to why has wrestling disappeared from this region? Why isn’t there anybody to replace the champions of the yesteryears? Why have the wrestlers been forgotten?  What was it that  turned an active region into a dead zone? 

However the Bholu Brothers or the other native fighters are not the only people who have vanished into the past. But many champions from different countries of the world have also faded into the background. And there is some anonymous reason why good and capable men are forgotten in history.  Nothing lives forever and the Bholu Brothers kept the game of wrestling alive the Pakistan until they remained active in professional wrestling. In Bholu's prime, 1940s, older people could compare Bholu with Gama from the past, whose prime is the 1910s, but remained in the public's eye and memory for years after.  In Aslam's prime they could recall Bholu and discuss who was stronger. Today, it’s been more then 30 years, So without a current comparison Bholu’s are much more forgotten by the public. From the highest esteem to the lowest the Bholu's legacy has gone down the entire way. And since the business of wrestling is too low in Pakistan, now there can't be a comparison. Wrestling’s impression on the public has also changed, too. Today wrestling has totally disappeared from this region.  There is no one to represent Pakistan in the world of professional wrestling. And if we look at it from different angle. We failed somewhere.  However, speak on their abilities, no matter how good were the Bholu Brothers or other wrestlers of the Indian subcontinent. But they were a step below the Great Gama and Imam Bukhsh.  Gama came out of the subcontinent and fought world renowned wrestlers. Maybe the original Ghulam who died young may have been the master of them all, but it's all frozen in history now. Further once those old-timers are gone, their personal stories disappear with them into the past. First Gama vanishes into history, then Bholu and then Aslam.

But now for many many unknown reasons there is no more wrestling alive in this region as it used to be in the past.  And the Sport of wrestling has completely vanished and is not like the good old days.  The Pehalwan's have now perished with age.  And they had to have many great wrestlers as their opponents who have now faded further from history. Their managers and wrestling promoters  have also gone into the background with their memoirs. They are disheartened and unhappy at the current state of affairs. The days of Wrestling seem to be over in this region. Now all that remains of these past era champions and long-forgotten heroes of yesteryears are their burial places located in the historic city of Lahore and other areas of Punjab.  The Pahalwans have long since been consigned into their eternal resting places in this part of the world. Pakistan, “The Land of Forgotten Wrestlers”.

My Essays are about Pakistani wrestling history and  mostly involve the Bholu Brothers or the Gama Wrestling Family. They not only discuss the history and philosophy of Pakistani wrestling history but also conjecture about who would win a fight if different matches were created. These probably have more insight on the subject then an average article about wrestling in Pakistan. And they touch many points that many of us have thought about for years regarding the status of these wrestlers in history.  The time and dates of the wrestling events from various archives as they were fought on Earth and not  conjectures and obscurities . And also find out if any of those old timers are still alive.

It was probably during 1973, that I had an opportunity of visiting the Bholu Pehalwan's wrestling club in the city of Karachi. The Bholu ﻮﻠﻮﮬﺑ Pehalwan was a man of high moral. Full of generosity and hospitality.  That same evening I went out and picked two issues of a foreign wrestling magazine from a local book store. One of the older issues contained a 1968 article about the Bholu Brothers revealing that the members of the Gama Wrestling family begin to wrestle as soon as they are old enough to crawl. This article was written by a foreign journalist featuring Goga Pahalwan on the front page. The second magazine was an issue that had a picture of the then reigning world champion Stan Stasiak showing his heart punch on the cover.  Later I went out to watch the Arnold Schawarzennegger’s movie "Hercules in New York" which was showing at a local movie theatre. However after a few days I saw an advertisement of a live wrestling show in a local newspaper and visited the National Stadium Karachi with some friends to watch the Bholu Brothers wrestle live. Before this occasion I only heard stories of the Bholu Brothers fighting the British wrestler Sitting Bull and other foreign wrestlers. But never saw wrestling live in my lifetime. During the early 1960's there was no local television network in Pakistan. And there was no wrestling telecast.

It was a sunny afternoon and the sports arena was crowded with the wrestling fans. It was probably 1500 hrs., when I arrived at the National Stadium Karachi to watch a live wrestling show for the first time. As the vehicle in which i was traveling with my school friends entered the parking lot of the stadium, I saw some English speaking wrestlers sitting inside an old car parked at some distance on my right. One huge wrestler was sitting at the front and three more at the back. The vehicle was crumbling under the weight of these massive wrestlers. There was another vehicle carrying another group of foreign grapplers right behind it . These guys came here to fight the local wrestlers known as the Pahalwans or Pehlwans. Both cars were surrounded by people of Pakistani wrestling management. 

After buying some tickets from a busy window I  moved into the stadium. Thousands of People from all parts of the city swarmed the stadium. Countless Children's running here and there like scattered wild bees. During the earlier days the Pakistani people were very simple minded and straightforward and did not have any special preferences regarding wrestling except that they were used to watching the Bholu Brothers  winning a wrestling match. The Bholu’s usually emerged as the winners in Pakistan. Every time they wrestled, they usually won the wrestling match. It was like a movie. The hero usually wins in the end. The reason for this was that Bholu Brothers were first class wrestlers who were capable of winning a legitimate world title and could be categorized as world champions. While the visiting foreign wrestlers who faced them in exhibition matches in Pakistan were mostly average pro wrestlers who came to Pakistan just to make some money out of pro-wrestling. Or they were former Champions of the past era who were not in their best condition.  And the Bholu Brothers could beat them easily. The Pakistani People were emotional and sentimental about losing or winning a match. And losing a wrestling match was considered bad name for the country.  The loser was not welcomed anywhere around here and ran into trouble. A wrestler who lost a match would go down in the eyes of the Public forever. In Pakistan either you win or you're finished. Therefore in this do or die situation the Bholu Brothers or any other person could not afford to lose. It is very difficult to regain even a fraction of a lost respect in the eyes of the local Public.  However the Bholu Brothers strived for winning the match for the honor of their wrestling family. It was a well-calculated risk on their part. Of course the Bholu Brothers did beat some of the worlds finest wrestlers in this same wrestling arena.  But that was in the past during the 50's or early 60's when they were in their prime. But during the 70's when the Bholu Brothers were getting older, on the whole the visiting foreign wrestlers were somewhat inferior to them and were not of their class and ultimately lost the fights easily. In spite of all this some foreign promoters managed to arrange wrestling shows in Pakistan. These 1973 exhibition bouts were arranged by a wrestling promoter.  These were not championship bouts but were merely business matches or wrestling shows to raise finance for the local wrestlers. This was a Pakistani freestyle wrestling show of the 1970's. The advertisements had appeared in the local newspapers for the past 1 week and attracted thousands of wrestling fans at the National Stadium in Karachi.  The wrestling show was scheduled to start at 1600 hrs. A few minutes after I arrived at the National Stadium I saw some construction work going on in the center of the National stadium Karachi. 

A few people were building a squared circle; a wrestling ring in the center of the stadium. While I descended the stairway and moved toward towards the ringside, I saw one of the Pehalwan brother coming up the stairway toward the sports enclosure. I think it was Azam. He was wearing his traditional dress (Kurta and Tehmad).  Then I caught a glimpse of Bholu on my right. He looked pleased to see the wrestling audience arrive at the sports arena. And as I was moving down the stairway towards the ringside, I saw another Pehalwan Brother walking away at my left toward the ringside. The Bholu's were really heavy and bulky. During the early days, unlike today It was not usual for a heavy wrestler to fly high into the air and deliver a flying kick.  It was hard to imagine that despite being so heavy and bulky these Pehalwan's could deliver effective flying kicks on their opponents to score a win.  That particular evening  Aslam ۱ﺴﻟم Pehalwan was scheduled to fight a visiting foreign wrestler known as the White Giant from America. These exhibition bouts were scheduled to continue for 3 days in Karachi and then proceed to Lahore and another city known as Faisalabad. These wrestling shows were also televised later on the Pakistan TV for the first time in history of the national TV network.  I only remember Aslam Pehalwan and Goga wrestling that night. And unfortunately all the rest of the matches have slipped out of my mind because they are more then a quarter of a century old. Before the main events there were some minor scuffles between less experienced junior wrestlers. As in India and Pakistan, it is a tradition that all major wrestling bouts are usually proceeded by smaller or minor conflicts between younger wrestlers. The initial wrestling matches which continued during the hours of daylight were among the Junior Pakistani wrestlers from Bholu's community.  By the time the main wrestling events commenced, it was sunset in Karachi. Soon the sports arena became alive with lights. A referee wearing red track suit entered the squared circle.   And later a European wrestler came in the ring and fought a Pakistani wrestler known as Raees Golden, the champion of Tonak who was perhaps one of the students of the Bholu Pehalwan. The European wrestler was heavier and taller then the native champion.  During the past the local Pakistani wrestlers basically practiced the traditional Indian wrestling known as Kushti. While the European was a freestyle professional. He was bigger and heavier and eventually overpowered the native wrestler despite his efforts to escape defeat.  After suffering humiliating defeat at the hands of the European, the native Pakistani champ left the ring . The European wrestler after defeating the local champ called out the Pakistani champion, Bholu Pahalwan to come in the ring and fight .  This infuriated the Bholu Brothers of Pakistan and the Bholu Brother; AZAM accepted the challenge and stepped into the ring. Azam took a fighting stance but  the ringside officials interfered and the match between Azam Pehalwan and the European hulk was fixed for some other day of the tournament. Although I didn't get a chance to watch Azam wrestle that Herculean wrestler  but  2 or 3 days later I read in the local newspaper that Azam defeated that Herculean wrestler and avenged the defeat of the  local champion. Azam managed to beat the European because Azam was a frontline Pakistani wrestler accustomed to freestyle wrestling. And the European was just an average freestyle professional.  A traditional Indian wrestler or Pehalwan, if not accustomed to freestyle wrestling may find it a bit difficult to tackle a freestyle wrestler because there is a difference of technique  and difference of rules and regulations regarding  the match. However Freestyle wrestling is different from the local catch wrestling. Kicks and punches are allowed in freestyle fights. Therefore the Freestyle fights are entertaining but difficult in practice. While traditional Indian catch wrestling " KUSHTI " is a healthy sport that is thousands of years old. It is a part of the ancient Indian culture. It originated in the pre partition era and remained alive in Pakistan for a long time after the Indian partition. The earlier matches were fought in "Catch as Catch Can" form of submission wrestling.  The Catch style is the ancestor of modern professional wrestling and mixed martial arts competitions. The 1910, Gama versus Zybysko bout was fought in the "Catch as Catch Can" style. The freestyle wrestling was introduced in Pakistan by the Pakistani freestyle wrestler Syed Saif Shah and his tag team partner Sardar Khan who came from England during the early 1950's. Syed Saif Shah had won the freestyle championship in Tokyo, Japan in 1952. These guys contested the Indian freestyle fighters in freestyle matches throughout Pakistan. When Syed Saif Shah was interviewed and asked who were the best wrestlers in the world today, he answered without hesitation --- "The Bholu Brothers". They are like mountains. he said. So during  these 1952-53 freestyle wrestling matches, the Pakistan Public demanded the Bholu Brothers to show up in the ring. Soon after this phase the Bholu Brothers started competing in freestyle wrestling. So this is how the Bholu Brothers and other Pakistani wrestlers became familiar to Freestyle  wrestling.  In 1954 the Empire Champion, Bert Assirati, ranked No.2 in the World, following the World champion, Louis Thesz, arrived in Bombay and challenged the legendary Gama Pahelwan to a wrestling match.  Aslam Pahalwan  ۱ﺴﻟم was sent to Bombay to fight Bert Assirati in place of the Great Gama. This freestyle wrestling match took place in Bombay on 3rd June 1954.  Aslam sustained brutal injuries during this match, but he managed to beat Assirati unconscious. Soon after this a series of Freestyle bouts sparked up in Pakistan. During the 50's a number of foreign professional wrestlers including the Irish Tiger; Ron Harrison, Brazilian champion; Kid Zemboa, Bill Verna of Australia , Louis Lebervelle of Italy and Hungarian Champion; Louis Kovacs showed up in Pakistan and competed against the resident wrestlers. However the next main event of the evening was between  the Masked Menace and Goga Pehalwan .

Goga  versus  The Masked Man : A live wrestling show was in progress at the local National Stadium in Karachi. The 2nd main event of the evening was between a masked wrestler (Masked Mennace) and Goga Pehalwan. The Masked Wrestler dressed up in black entered the ring. He looked experienced and agile. As the match commenced this mask wrestler poked fingers into Goga's eye as he entered the ring. This opposing  masked wrestler further stunned Goga as he assaulted him in the beginning of the match using foul measures. He hammered Goga Pehalwan with kicks  and punches and then chocked him. However Goga somehow got out of the chock-hold and retaliated with flying Kicks followed by a leg breaker hold to punish his opponent .  Goga eventually won the match by a pin fall after delivering a reverse flying drop kick and a body slam when his opponent was half finished. Goga changed into his traditional dress  inside the ring in front of the public before leaving the arena. As soon as Goga Pehalwan left the arena, the almost 7 footer American White Giant walks in. In the main event of the evening. Aslam Pehalwan wrestled the White Giant.  

Aslam  Pahalwan   versus  The White Giant:  The almost 7 footer American White Giant walked into the arena and addressed the public as he called out the Bholu Brothers to come into the ring and fight. This so called White Giant was Gigantic. After a brief pause Aslam Pehalwan's  name was called out by the ring announcer and simultaneously a sharp yell was heard from the far end of the National stadium and Aslam Pehalwan was seen racing across the lawns of the Arena. He came charging towards the ring. This 6 feet 2 inch tall local Pakistani hero was dwarfed by the 7 feet & 10 inch tall White Giant from America.  The short brawl began as the two monsters collided head on inside the ring.  Aslam proved much superior and dominated the Giant throughout the match. While the White Giant mostly kept shouting and roaring inside the ring. Aslam Pehalwan attacked the White Giant with a combination of  ferocious head butts and blows to the the face and chest of the Giant without giving him a chance to strike back. But at some point the White Giant retaliated with full force. He delivered a couple of blows to the Pehalwan on his face and smashed his knee into the chest of Aslam Pehalwan. This shocked him momentarily but these were not very effective on him and he immediately regained control of the bout and came back with a series of head butts and hand blows that were strong enough to put the Giant off balance. Aslam then lowered himself and applied a punishing maneuver on the right foot of the Giant that made him scream in pain.  He twisted the Ankle of the Giant in such a manner that puts him off balance. He then hits the Giant with a massive flying kick. And down went the Giant like a tree. The tall man was able to get up this time but Aslam then applied the side head lock with his left arm to keep the giant under control. He then started hitting the Giant with the upper cut blows with his right hand. This had enough force to make the almost 7 footer opponent rise in the air. And then Aslam lifted the 300 pound Giant and slammed him on the floor.  And down went the Giant again.  Aslam then applied the Boston Crab submission hold on the Giant. And the Giant soon submits . Aslam won the bout that day and the Pakistani wrestling fans applauded him and his brothers. He had previously fought this gigantic man on many occasions.  These were the professionals who met in the ring again and again and knew each other well . No matter what happened or whoever won the match, the credit always went to the Pakistani Champion, ﻮﻠﻮﮬﺑ Bholu Pahalwan. He was like a father to the Bholu Brothers.