The Great Gama
The Great Gama
Birth name: Ghulam Mohammad Baksh Butt
Born/Date of Birthday: 22 May 1878
Place of Birth: Jabbowal, Amritsar, Punjab, British India, (now in Kapurthala, Punjab, India)
Died: 23 May 1960 (aged 82), Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
Spouse: Wazir Begum
Children: Aslam Pahalwan
Family: Imam Baksh Pahalwan (brother)
Kalsoom Nawaz Sharif (granddaughter)
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s): Gama Pahalwan
Billed height: 5 ft 8 in (173 cm)
Billed weight: 250 lb (110 kg)
Ghulam Mohammad Baksh Butt (22 May 1878 – 23 May 1960), commonly known as Rustam-e-Hind (Hindi-Urdu for Rustam of India) and by the ring name The Great Gama, was an Indian pehlwani wrestler and strongman. In the early 20th century, he was an undefeated wrestling champion of the world.
Born in village Jabbowal, Amritsar District in the Punjab Province of colonial British India in 1878, and was awarded a version of the World Heavyweight Championship on 15 October 1910. Undefeated in a career spanning more than 52 years, he is considered one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. During the partition of India, the Great Gama saved the lives of many Hindus and then spent the rest of his days until his death on May 23, 1960 in Lahore, which became a part of the newly created Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Early life
Ghulam Mohammad Baksh was born on May 22nd, 1878 in Jabbowal Village, Amritsar district, Punjab Province, British India (now Jabbowal, Kapurthala District, Punjab, India) into a Kashmiri Muslim family of the Bhatt clan, into a family of wrestlers in the Punjab region.
After the death of his father Muhammad Aziz Baksh when he was six, Gama was put under the care of his maternal grandfather Nun Pahalwan. He was first noticed at the age of ten, in 1888, when he entered a strongman competition held in Jodhpur, which included many gruelling exercises such as squats. The contest was attended by more than four hundred wrestlers and Gama was among the last fifteen and was named the winner by the Maharaja of Jodhpur due to his young age. Gama was subsequently taken into training by the Maharaja of Datia.
Training
Gama's daily training consisted of grappling with forty of his fellow wrestlers in the akhada (court). He did a minimum of five thousand baithaks (Indian word for squats) and three thousand dands (Indian word for pushups) in a day and even sometimes more within 30 to 45 minutes each by wearing a doughnut-shaped wrestling apparatus called a Hasli of 1 Quintal (approx. 100 kilos).
Career
First encounter with Raheem Bakhsh Sultaniwala
Fame came to Gama in 1895, at the age of 17 when he challenged then-Indian Wrestling Champion, middle-aged Raheem Bakhsh Sultani Wala, another ethnic Kashmiri wrestler from Gujranwala, now in Punjab, Pakistan.
By 1910, Gama had defeated all the prominent Indian wrestlers who faced him except the champion, Raheem Bakhsh Sultani Wala (the Rustam-e-Hind or the lineal champion of India). At this time, he focused his attention on the rest of the world. Accompanied by his younger brother Imam Bakhsh, Gama sailed to England to compete with the Western wrestlers but could not gain instant entry, because of his lower height.
Tournament in London
In London, Gama issued a challenge that he could throw any three wrestlers in thirty minutes of any weight class. This announcement however was seen as a bluff by the wrestlers and their wrestling promoter R. B. Benjamin. For a long time no one came forward to accept the challenge. To break the ice, Gama presented another challenge to specific heavy weight wrestlers. He challenged Stanislaus Zbyszko and Frank Gotch, either he would beat them or pay them the prize money and go home. The first professional wrestler to take his challenge was the American Benjamin Roller. In the bout, Gama pinned Roller in 1 minute 40 seconds the first time, and in 9 minutes 10 seconds the other. On the second day, he defeated 12 wrestlers and thus gained entry to official tournament.
Match with Stanislaus Zbyszko
He was pitted against world champion Stanislaus Zbyszko
Nevertheless, Zbyszko still became one of the few wrestlers to ever meet the Great Gama without going down in defeat; The two men were set to face each other again on September 17, 1910. On that date, Zbyszko failed to show up and Gama was announced the winner by default. He was awarded the prize and the John Bull Belt. Receiving this belt entitled Gama to be called Rustam-e-Zamana or World Champion but not the lineal champion of the world as he hadn't defeated Zbyszko in the ring.
Bouts against American and European champions
During this tour Gama defeated some of the most respected grapplers in the world, "Doc" Benjamin Roller of the United States, Maurice Deriaz of Switzerland, Johann Lemm (the European Champion) of Switzerland, and Jesse Peterson (World Champion) from Sweden. In the match against Roller, Gama threw "Doc" 13 times in the 15-minute match.
Final encounter with Raheem Bakhsh Sultani Wala
Shortly after his return from England, Gama faced Raheem Bakhsh Sultani Wala in Allahabad. This bout eventually ended the long struggle between the two pillars of Indian wrestling of that time in favour of Gama and he won the title of Rustam-e-Hind or the lineal Champion of India. Later in his life when asked about who was his strongest opponent, Gama replied, "Raheem Bakhsh Sultani Wala".
Rematch with Zbyszko
After beating Raheem Bakhsh Sultani Wala, Gama faced Pandit Biddu, who was one of the best wrestlers in India of that time (1916), and beat him.
In 1922, during a visit to India, the Prince of Wales presented Gama with a silver mace.
Gama did not have any opponents until 1927, when it was announced that Gama and Zbyszko would face each other again. They met in Patiala in January 1928. Entering the bout, Zbyszko "showed a strong build of body and muscle" and Gama, it was reported "looked much thinner than usual". However, he managed to overpower the former easily and won the bout inside a minute, winning the Indian version of the lineal World Wrestling Championship. Following the bout, Zbyszko praised him, calling him a "tiger".
At forty-eight years old he was now known as the "great wrestler" of India.
After defeating Zbyszko, Gama beat Jesse Petersen in February 1929. The bout lasted only one and a half minutes. This was the last bout that Gama fought during his career.
After the independence and partition of India in 1947, Gama moved to Pakistan. During the Hindu-Muslim riots that broke out at the time of partition, the Muslim Gama saved hundreds of Hindus from mobs in Lahore.
Gama fought and won over five thousand matches His final days were difficult; he had five sons and four daughters and all the sons died young. When his youngest son Jalaluddin died in 1945 at the age of just thirteen, Gama was heartbroken and lost the power of speech for some days. He migrated to Pakistan at partition and tried his hand at different unsuccessful ventures including a bus service in Karachi called the "Gama Transport Service". Gama was given land and monthly pension by the government and supported his medical expenses until his death. He died in Lahore, Pakistan on 23 May 1960 after a period of illness.
Kulsoom Nawaz, Pakistan’s first lady and wife of Nawaz Sharif who remained the Prime Minister of Pakistan, was the granddaughter of The Great Gama.
Legacy
Bruce Lee was an avid follower of Gama's training routine. Lee read articles about Gama and how he employed his exercises to build his legendary strength for wrestling, and Lee quickly incorporated them into his own routine. The training routines Lee used included "the cat stretch", and "the squat" (known as "baithak", and also known as the "deep-knee bend.").
Today, a doughnut-shaped exercise disc called Hasli weighing 100 kg, used by him for squats and pushups, is housed at the National Institute of Sports (NIS) Museum at Patiala, India.
On 22 May 2022, search engine Google commemorated Gama with a Doodle on his 144th birth anniversary. Google commented: "Gama’s legacy continues to inspire modern day fighters. Even Bruce Lee is a known admirer and incorporates aspects of Gama's conditioning into his own training routine!".
Championships and accomplishments
- International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
Class of 2021 - George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
Class of 2007 - Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
Class of 2015
