Gatka - A Few Video'S Everyone Should Watch

[Singhstah]

I know gatka can't be the real martial art simply because you can master it in about two weeks, you literally do get handed any random weapon and can just pass off using it the same way you do a soti. It most probably is just the preliminary stages of the real vidiya.

Having learnt gatka in the past I know there is no way I would ever feel I could use it in any real combat situation. I haven't been to any SV classes, putting aside all ideological differences, just based on videos and material released its clear to see that is the real deal. I mean compared the fairy tales that you can convince yourself with gatka (your really not taught to think about the practicality of any thing), SV practicioners do seem to have a much more realistic mindset (to say the least).

It would have been nice if the classes were more ideologically neutral.

As for the video, it looks to me that sikh, rajput, islamic, etc. martial arts must all have been filtered down to gatka during the british era, the suggestive proof is in the similarity between them.

[caveman]

Total ignorance. Do you know that Shastar vidiya is combined of many styles of fighting. Includes hand to hand battles, weapons of various sizes,ect. Shastar Vidiya is all of the Sikhs teaches combine as one. Gatka is part of the training of Sharstar Vidiya, it's one of them.

Also can you explain to me what jung yudh and mall yudh mean?

Yes I do know the vidiya has many sections to it.

jung yudh = science of battle

mal yudh = wrestling/maram yudh

I think you should go on to my page and look at the previous topics I have made...then you will know that I am not a gatkabaaj.

But one question I do have how is gatka apart of the training for shastar vidiya? are you on about little kids coming into the akhara and learning simple vaars? and progressing on to platha when they are old enough around? in that sense?

[Only five]

Yes I do know the vidiya has many sections to it.

jung yudh = science of battle

mal yudh = wrestling/maram yudh

I think you should go on to my page and look at the previous topics I have made...then you will know that I am not a gatkabaaj.

But one question I do have how is gatka apart of the training for shastar vidiya? are you on about little kids coming into the akhara and learning simple vaars? and progressing on to platha when they are old enough around? in that sense?

It seems to me as you are a Niddar 'Singh' follower. Am I right on this (and don't say it doesn't matter if you are or not because it does). Gatka to you might seem as a really low art form for battle, but it actually is the base of training and acts as a guide to the more advanced and complex arts. Gatka in it's self is very useful art when battling more than one person.

[caveman]

It seems to me as you are a Niddar 'Singh' follower. Am I right on this (and don't say it doesn't matter if you are or not because it does). Gatka to you might seem as a really low art form for battle, but it actually is the base of training and acts as a guide to the more advanced and complex arts. Gatka in it's self is very useful art when battling more than one person.

I am a follower of the guru no and none else.

It matters? on what basis does it? what will it prove?

How can gatka battle many men, when the guy is spinning and jumping around all you have to do is thrust forward at the right time and bang hits him.

[wannabe akali]

It seems to me as you are a Niddar 'Singh' follower. Am I right on this (and don't say it doesn't matter if you are or not because it does). Gatka to you might seem as a really low art form for battle, but it actually is the base of training and acts as a guide to the more advanced and complex arts. Gatka in it's self is very useful art when battling more than one person.

oh hahahaha

this one actually made me laugh!

it doesnt matter for one!

it is a low art, and im not even sure it should be considered an art at all because all the gatka akharas that seem to have fighting in it, you always find that the ustaad has done something

like Aikido or street fighting and even boxing! you hand a gatka practicer any weapon and hel do the same thing to it that he would do to a soti. he twirls and twirls like a balarena and in 10 seconds hes nackered and cant go on! what kind of vidiya is that? gatka cannot be used in battle at all. gatka pentras were not ever used to fight, they were simply repeated over and over again for stamina, and even then the gatka akharas have wittled it down and dont even do that right! gatka is the most useless art ive ever come across, you might as well start thai boxing, thatll get you somewhere! and with gatka, you cannot battle anyone, let along more than one person:lol::D:P

[Into the Light]

What i find most ironic is that the vidiya niddar singh brought over was orinigally called 'chatka gatka'...surely his ustaad, the only singh with the vidiya that was passed on to him from ustaad to vidiyaartee should have known that the term gatka has never been in have granths pre Gyani gyan Singh.

But as the story goes...niddar changed the vidiya to 'shaster vidiya'...how very convenient!

[Gurbar Akaal]

What i find most ironic is that the vidiya niddar singh brought over was orinigally called 'chatka gatka'...surely his ustaad, the only singh with the vidiya that was passed on to him from ustaad to vidiyaartee should have known that the term gatka has never been in have granths pre Gyani gyan Singh.

But as the story goes...niddar changed the vidiya to 'shaster vidiya'...how very convenient!

The fighting arts of the khalsa have been called many things, such as ayudh vidiya, bir vidiya, shastarvidiya, the term Jhatka Gatka was coined by Baba Gyana Singh when they came accross exhibitionist Gatkabaaj, stating that "If your vidiya is Gatka, then my vidiya is Jhatka Gatka" making the differentiation from the showmanship exhibition style of the Gatkabaaj compared to the traditional Vidiya which was aimed to kill quickly, effectively and precisely. If people have no idea of what Shastarvidiya is, they can only relate to what they know, hence the use of the term Jhatka Gatka. There is a bola which they sang also which makes the differentiation between the two styles.

Whether the name made a change is regardless, the vidiya is the same, even if Niddar Singh called his art just Gatka, it would still be worlds apart from what is taught in modern day Sikh Akharas.

If you read Gyani Gyan Singhs works, you will see the level of yudh vidiya and practise of weapons that was practised by the Singhs, he also expresses his sadness and emotion to the decline of these arts, stating that our own sikhs wont believe these arts existed and in 50 yrs time, people will say "your lying", seem familiar?

[Gurbar Akaal]

It seems to me as you are a Niddar 'Singh' follower. Am I right on this (and don't say it doesn't matter if you are or not because it does). Gatka to you might seem as a really low art form for battle, but it actually is the base of training and acts as a guide to the more advanced and complex arts. Gatka in it's self is very useful art when battling more than one person.

If what you state is true and Gatka is the low art form, how can it be used against multiples which is technically a higher skill compared to one vs one?

What does the higher form of Gatka have which the lower form does not?

[Koi]

Having done Gatka for a long time before moving onto SV, I can honestly say that Gatka can not be the real SV taught by our Guru's.

No disrespect to the people who taught me or my fellow students. In fact, they were very nice people. Even when I meet them nowadays, I still show them respect.

However, twirling your stick/sword/axe/spear etc in a figure of 8 does not help you defend in a real war situation. After constantly questioning my seniors about pantra, strategy, history etc. even they eventually had to admit that Gatka is not the real SV.

A simple question was : "There are so many different types of swords, why spin them around in exactly the same way? Surely the technique would differ."

The one that made me laugh was when I was told: "You can hit twice in one go. That's cheating. In the tournament, you would be disqualified."

I don't care about a tournament, I care about real life.

I can honestly say that I learnt more in one lesson of SV than all my lessons of Gatka put together.

Ironically, some of my seniors have quit gatka to start SV (you know who you are)...

[sall]

WJKK WJKF

Whatever you believe or which art you believe there is one key that was required and without it there is no way the Sikhs would've achieved what they did when they did. That is Mahraj's apaar kirpa and physical fitness to the extreme. So take a note and start on physical fitness every single day which is an important element in any art.