This Is Why Gatka Is Not Taken Seriously

[Cisco_Singh]

Great example of why Gatka is not taken seriously in the martial arts community.

http://dailysikhupdates.com/watch-group-kaur-khalsa-perform-for-funtertainment-on-sony/

Exactly why Gurbhachan Singh Bhindranewale described this type of Gatka as that of circus performers and baazigars rather than a combat art..

Do people still think The Khalsa , Akal purakh di fauj went into battle against the armies of ahmed shah abdali and carried out circus acts ??

[Balkaar]

Great example of why Gatka is not taken seriously in the martial arts community.

http://dailysikhupdates.com/watch-group-kaur-khalsa-perform-for-funtertainment-on-sony/

Exactly why Gurbhachan Singh Bhindranewale described this type of Gatka as that of circus performers and baazigars rather than a combat art..

Do people still think The Khalsa , Akal purakh di fauj went into battle against the armies of ahmed shah abdali and carried out circus acts ??

There is a reason people use the phrase 'playing gatka'. Nobody plays Muay Thai or Krav Maga. These are authentic and effective martial arts. Gatka, I'm sorry to say, is not. Just try twirling your kirpan around in the air like your Gatka Ustaad taught you in a real fight, and see what happens. Whilst you're being theatrical and busting out your epic roundhouse talwar moves two feet up in the air, some lafunga will punch a table knife into your sides.

Shastar Vidiya was the battlefield art of the Puraatan SInghs. It actually was effective, so effective in fact that it was banned by the British. It pretty much choked and died, and Gatka is only a dim echo of this.

The modern gatka fad is, in my opinion, an embodiment of what we Sikhs have become - overweight/underweight softies playing at being soldiers, dressing like soldiers, talking like soldiers, but not being soldiers. More interested in the pageantry and giving it the mouth than actually doing something. We are obsessively nostalgic, leeching off of the sterling martial reputation of our ancestors to protect our fragile egos from the realization that we are a shadow of what we once were.

[Jonny101]

Sorry to disappoint you cisco singh but thats not Gatka. That's just some stage stunts that some are now doing and say this is "Gatka". This all started from that Bir Khalsa Group.

[ms514]

VAHEGURU JI KA KHALSA, VAHEGURU JI KI FATEH

I am lucky enough to be living where many of the annual Yudh tournament winners reside. I have seen them doing "exhibitions" of Gatka that had no stunt work or drama but rather combat/dueling type engagements that draw blood often (and have sometimes sent the Ustads and students to the hospital).

It is not this show.

Another group (Bir Khalsa Group) were even chided in one of their appearances because they were making a show of it.

(towards the end).

If the proponents of Shastar Vidiya want to continue exhorting their martial art, they should then engage in some live demonstration of its effectiveness - perhaps in India where the Sikhs are being oppressed and taken advantage of. Those who practice "fake" Gatka (Shaheed Bhai Fauja Singh, Sant Jarnail Singh Khalsa) have demonstrated their courage already and shown their mettle. We have yet to see such determination and grit from Shastar Vidiya practitioners (and Shastar Vidiya as a term is being strictly applied to the techniques of Mr. Nidar Singh aka. Surjit Singh Bains) in a practical application to the benefit of the Sikh Panth.

There is no point claiming to be the last Sikh warrior and teaching the dying secret art when it sits comfortably in the UK in a state of relative freedom while beadbi of Gurbani, Sahib Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, Gursikhs and Gur Asthans continue to happen in India. If Shastar Vidiya was the true martial art, it was practiced to meet the defensive needs of the Khalsa by the likes of Baba Deep Singh, Baba Banda Singh Bahadur (Bhai Gurbaksh Singh) and countless other Gursikhs. Currently, Shastar Vidiya is like a bright, shiny unused sword sitting in its sheath untouched on the battlefield while a battle breaks around it every so often resulting in casualties.

[StarStriker]

Gatka is bollocks.

[MisterrSingh]

[Singh559]

Nidar hijacked the title of shastar vidya. Still relevant:

http://www.sikh24.com/2013/07/31/controversial-neo-nang-niddar-to-hold-seminar-in-toronto/#.VddpkMvnbqA

Gatka is focused on the fari soti and other footwork basics of jang vidiya. Gatka is a part of shastar vidya- the knowledge of weapons and for someone practicing the art, the sky is the limit. You get as good as your foundation, how much you practice and the level in which you practice.

With that said agreed about the OP about this entertainment business is doing besti to the art.

There is a lot of intentional mystification of the subject but reality is you can reverse engineer many things simply by looking at a type of shastar, shape of shastar and other properties of it.

[Singh4Liberty]

Why isn't firearms training part of Shastar Vidhiya ? If a war breaks out we shouldn't be throwing spears at tanks. The reason we have been massacred many times is that we choose to use older weaponry and techniques instead. Sant Jarnail singh and 200 Singhs used old WWII rifles. Imagine if Kharkus had same light arms as the Indian Army. It would have changed the course of history.

[Jonny101]

Why isn't firearms training part of Shastar Vidhiya ? If a war breaks out we shouldn't be throwing spears at tanks. The reason we have been massacred many times is that we choose to use older weaponry and techniques instead. Sant Jarnail singh and 200 Singhs used old WWII rifles. Imagine if Kharkus had same light arms as the Indian Army. It would have changed the course of history.

Excellent point. Puratan Singhs were not just about fighting with swords and spears. They had incorporated guns, pistols, cannons, and even modern weaponry like howitzer artillery etc. THIS is how they became from guerilla fighters to a modern conventional army rivaling European armies of the time. Singhs today should learn modern combat arts and incorporate that into their puratan martial arts.

[Singh4Liberty]

THIS is how they became from guerilla fighters to a modern conventional army rivaling European armies of the time.

I believe an English newpaper in the 1800s said that if Hari Singh Nalwa had the same equipment and amount of soldiers of a European army, he would conquer most of Asia in no time.