“Remembering Hamida Banu in 2024 : India’s Wrestling Legend and Trailblazer”

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hamida banu

In 1944, a stadium in the city of Bombay was filled with excitement for hamida banu. There were around 200,000 people who were clapping and looking very excited.A few minutes later, the very famous Goonga wrestler of that era was going to face a female wrestler. Everything was going well until Goonga wrestler became silent and withdrew his name from wrestling. He had demanded more time and more money for wrestling from Hamida Banu.

After of all these things The audience lost it as soon as it was announced that the game would be canceled, and mayhem broke out across the stadium. Somehow the police managed to keep these things under control. Newspaper articles the following day stated,  Goonga wrestler retreated in fear of Hamida Banu.” That this day, the  Goonga wrestler and Hamida Banu—known as India’s first female wrestler—were slated to square off. Google honors Hamida Banu today, May 4, with a Google Doodle.

Hamida Banu diet 

Hamida Bano reportedly weighed 108 kg and was 5 feet 3 inches tall. She used to eat 5.6 liters of milk, half a kilo of ghee, two biryani plates and six eggs in a day.

controversy with coach

Hamida Banu had arguments with her coach over wishing to wrestle in Europe, which led to controversies. Her coach, however, disapproved of her choice. Moreover, there were also rumors that Hamida Bano had made a condition that she would only marry the man who defeated her. However, it never took place.

who is hamida banu ?

Growing up in Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, Hamida Bano was interested in wrestling since childhood. Wrestling was only open to men at that time. It was impossible for women to even consider entering the arena. Hamida’s family severely reprimanded her when she revealed her desire to wrestle. After rebelling, Hamida traveled to Aligarh. Here, Salam Pahelwan taught her the subtleties of wrestling, and she went on to compete.

Maheshwar Dayal, who wrote a book in 1987, claims that Hamida Banu rose to fame in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh in a matter of years. She wrestled in the same manner as men. She started out having to fight in small matches, but these didn’t allow her to get what she wanted.

Gama Pahelwan challenge

According to a BBC report, Hamida Banu traveled to Vadodara for her third match that year. All over the city, banners and posters of her were displayed. She was promoting her match through rickshaws and ekka. Hamida was meant to compete against the well-known Gama Pahelwan, whose name was enough, and who was protected by Maharaja Vadodara.

gama pehalwan

However, Gama Pahelwan withdrew from the match at the last minute, claiming he wouldn’t wrestle a woman. Following this, Hamida and Baba Pahelwan were matched.

Dispute with Morarji Desai Hamida Banu was in a sense forbidden in Maharashtra. Hamida Banu also complained about it in writing to the then-chief minister of Maharashtra, Morarji Desai, according to Ronjoe Sen’s book. Desai retorted that her match would not be canceled because she was a woman, but the organizers were upset that Banu was being matched with dummy candidates.

Rivalry with the Russian “Female Bear”

In 1954, Hamida Banu and Russian wrestler Vera Chistilin squared off in Mumbai. Despite Vera’s reputation as Russia’s “Female Bear,” she was unable to remain in front of Hamida for even a brief moment. Vera was defeated by Hamida in under a minute. She declared that year that she would be traveling from India to compete in wrestling overseas.

Salam Pahelwan, Hamida’s coach, was not fond of the opportunity of Hamida traveling to compete in Europe. Following their marriage, they opened a dairy near Mumbai’s Kalyan. Hamida continued in wanting to travel to Europe to wrestle, though. Hamida Banu’s grandson Firoz Sheikh claims in a BBC article that Salam Pahelwan beat her until her hands broke.And along with this his leg also got seriously injured. She used a stick to help her walk for many years after that.

Salam Pahelwan went back to Aligarh a few years later, while Hamida Banu remained in Kalyan and carried on with her dairy enterprise. She also made food sales by the side of the road in later years. Her death in 1986 was private.

 

 

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