In Photos: The Delhi Akhara That Churns Out Musclemen

The wrestler often represents the “tough guy” in society. Look through the lens to see what drives them.

Wrestlers posing for a picture after coming from the field.

(Photo: Danish Qazi/The Quint)

Guru Hanuman Akhara is the oldest surviving wrestling school of India. It was established in 1925 and is the breeding ground for top Indian wrestlers in the thousand-year-old Indian wrestling tradition called Kushti/Pehelwani. It is located at Shakti Nagar near Roshanara bagh in New Delhi.

The whole scenario and ambiance of the place reminds one of Roland Barthes cultural critique of wrestling as not a sport but a spectacle, based on the ideas of excessive display of emotions, grandiloquence and playing before public the already-held ideas of justice; paying.

A wrestler, in deep thought, watches from across the glass.(Photo: Danish Qazi/The Quint)

The wrestlers at the Akhara have an unshakable belief that the land is blessed. So much that even when the government offered to provide larger land with better training facilities, most of the wrestlers refused to shift out of the dilapidated buildings. However, due to lack of space, a modern gymnasium was built by the government at some distance from the Akhara which is used by the trainees. The Akhara is named after Guru Hanuman and currently trains about 200 wrestlers under the guidance of Maha Singh Rao.

‘Through the hard work and sweat, I learn a great deal about myself.’(Photo: Danish Qazi/The Quint)

The soil they think is sacred: The soil has to be rendered soft and fit for practice by rolling it.(Photo: Danish Qazi/The Quint)

Till the silhouettes do us part: In practice.(Photo: Danish Qazi/The Quint)

I might look away but I never lose focus: lapses between (Photo: Danish Qazi/The Quint)

Being defeated is optional. (Photo: Danish Qazi/The Quint)

Unframed ‘Masculinity’ (Photo: Danish Qazi/The Quint)

The mystery of triangular symmetry. (Photo: Danish Qazi/The Quint)

A pulley or a swing? (Photo: Danish Qazi/The Quint)

Smooth fall, or a leap of faith? (Photo: Danish Qazi/The Quint)

The Vertigo swing: The daily practice of strengthening the muscles and learning tight gripping and groping. (Photo: Danish Qazi/The Quint)

The source of untamed strength, they say: The portrait of Shiva as an inspiration for untamed aggression and motivation. (Photo: Danish Qazi/The Quint)

The wrestler in a room with the portraits of all his inspirations in the world of wrestling and beyond. (Photo: Danish Qazi/The Quint)

The talking gaze of a guru: Shaam Singh,the man who trained them for years. (Photo: Danish Qazi/The Quint)

Wrestler in deep thought.(Photo: Danish Qazi/The Quint)

‘This is my identity; the reason I wake up every morning.’(Photo: Danish Qazi/ The Quint)

Between dreams and success. (Photo: Danish Qazi/The Quint)

Holy feet touch the sacrosanct soil. (Photo: Danish Qazi/The Quint)

Resting on the floor after coming in from the field. (Photo: Danish Qazi/The Quint)

The real bucket challenge: The buckets contain water for their cleaning, washing etc. (Photo: Danish Qazi/The Quint)

Reflections in stone. The dumbell. (Photo: Danish Qazi/The Quint)