Wrestling has been a tradition in Mysore for over a 100 years which was started by the royal family.This type of wrestling is known as Matti Kusthi or more commonly known as Mud Wrestling and children start from the age of thirteen. This is celebrated over 5 days every year during Dasara. Having said this today they have also included mat/point kusthi. There are around 100 garadi’s (wrestling houses) in and around Mysore of which only 30 are functioning fully today. Wrestlers practice twice every single day and they worship the mud before they commence. This mud is considered very sacred. They only use red mud as it’s cool in terms of temperature. This mud is mixed with turmeric and camphor. Turmeric also acts as an antiseptic and when there are wounds, they apply this mud and wounds heal quickly. They also have a certain diet that is followed after every practice session that needs to be consumed within 30 minutes. This is called Thandai and is rich in nutrients which includes dry fruits etc., to help muscles heal. Meat is not necessary in the diet. Mat kusthi has two types, one is called freestyle where the entire body is used and the other is called Roman or Greek wrestling where only the upper body is used.The interest in kusthi had dipped for a while but after Susheel Kumar’s success the sport has gained a lot of momentum again and the participation has increased. Mat Kusthi is becoming quite popular. Mat kusthi is more streamlined and recognized by the government whereas matti kusthi doesn’t have any such regulations and every player is rewarded based on his performance and experience unlike mat kusthi is like any other sport which has gold, silver and bronze positions. They request the governments to recognise matti kusthi, bring in some order and include some benefits like they have with mat kusthi and encourage the century old tradition which is still strong in the state of Karnataka.Every day of the tournament starts with mat kusthi post which, the covers are removed, the oxen are brought up to loosen the sand followed by a small ceremony to workship the mud and then mud kusthi goes on until late in the night.Wrestling was introduced to women in 2004 and is also taken very seriously today. This year day three was for women’s wrestling and Mrs. Sudha Murthy who attended the event announced a prize money of Rs.10,000 each for the top three players in each weight category. The response women’s wrestling is seeing is phenomenal.
