Vijay Pal Yadav (15 March 1901 – 24 May 1999) better known as Guru Hanuman, was a legendary

wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

coach of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

who coached many medal-winning wrestlers.Obituary: Guru Hanuman
Kuldip Singh,

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

, 11 June 1999. He was awarded the prestigious Dronacharya Award in 1987, the highest recognition for a sports coach in India, and the

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

in 1983.

Early life

Guru was born as Vijay Pal Yadav on 15 March 1901, in the

Chirawa Chirawa is a municipal town and tehsil in Jhunjhunu district of Shekhawati region in Rajasthan state of India. Its elevation is above sea level.Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

state. He did not attend school, but began wrestling at the local village akhada from an early age. He moved to

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

in 1919 to set up a shop near Birla Mills in Subzi Mundi, but instead became a wrestler and soon gained popularity in the field.

Career

The Indian industrialist K. K. Birla gave him land to set up

Akhara Akhara or Akhada (Hindi: अखाड़ा, romanised: ''Akhāṛā'') is an Indian word for a place of practice with facilities for boarding, lodging and training, both in the context of Indian martial artists or a ''sampradaya'' monastery fo ...

in Malkaganj, Subzi Mandi (

Old Delhi Shahjahanabad colloquially known as Old Delhi( Hindustani: ''Purāni Dillī'') is an area in the Central Delhi district of Delhi, India. It was founded as a walled city and officially named Shahjahanabad in 1648, when Shah Jahan decided to shi ...

), thus 'Birla Mills Vyayamshala' was born around 1925 which was being managed by Birla Mills, Kamla Nagar, Delhi, which subsequently known as the Guru Hanuman Akhara. Both as a wrestler and as a coach, Guru Hanuman was a legend as he created a template for modern Indian wrestling, by mixing traditional Indian wrestling style, ''

pehlwani Pehlwani, also known as Kushti, is a form of wrestling contested in the Indian subcontinent. It was developed in the Mughal Empire by combining Persian Pahlevani and zoorkhaneh rituals, Koshti pahlevani with influences from native Indian Malla- ...

'' with international wrestling standards. In time he coached almost all of India's freestyle international wrestlers. His disciples Sudesh Kumar and Prem Nath won gold medals at the

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in 1958. Other notable disciples, Satpal and Kartar Singh won gold medals in

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the 1951 Asian Games, first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until ...

in 1982 and 1986, respectively. Eight of his disciples got the highest Indian sporting honour

Arjuna award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards given for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjun ...

. He was a bachelor and

lacto-vegetarian A lacto-vegetarian (sometimes referred to as a lactarian; from the Latin root lact-, ''milk'') diet abstains from the consumption of meat as well as Egg as food, eggs, while still consuming dairy products such as milk, cheese (without animal renn ...

. His vegetarian diet was heavy in

dairy product Dairy products or milk products are food products made from (or containing) milk. The most common dairy animals are cow, water buffalo, goat, nanny goat, and Sheep, ewe. Dairy products include common grocery store food around the world such as y ...

s. In 1984, Guru Hanuman authored an article in the '' Bhartiya Kushti'' magazine arguing that a vegetarian diet can build a strong physique. He died in a car crash on 24 May 1999, near

Meerut Meerut (, ISO 15919, ISO: ''Mēraṭh'') is a city in the western region of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Located in the Meerut district, it is northeast of the national capital, New Delhi, and is ...

, on his way to

Haridwar Haridwar (; ; formerly Mayapuri) is a city and municipal corporation in the Haridwar district of Uttarakhand, India. With a population of 228,832 in 2011, it is the second-largest city in the state and the largest in the district. The city is s ...

. On 9 August 2003, a statue of Guru Hanuman was unveiled at the Kalyan Vihar Sports Stadium, in New Delhi, by former Delhi Chief Minister,

Madan Lal Khurana Madan Lal Khurana (15 October 1936 – 27 October 2018) was an Indian politician who served as the 3rd Chief Minister of Delhi from 1993 to 1996. He was also the Governor of Rajasthan in 2004. Born in British India, Khurana was known as ''Dil ...

Guru Hanuman Akhara (Birla Mills Vyayamshala)

Guru Hanuman Akhara is a wrestlers training centre or

akhara Akhara or Akhada (Hindi: अखाड़ा, romanised: ''Akhāṛā'') is an Indian word for a place of practice with facilities for boarding, lodging and training, both in the context of Indian martial artists or a ''sampradaya'' monastery fo ...

in traditional Hindi dialect. Established in 1925 at

Shakti Nagar Shaktinagar is a small town in Sonbhadra, Mirzapur Division, Uttar Pradesh near Varanasi, India. The city borders with Madhya Pradesh at Jayant Border. About Some of the famous places in the town are Chilka Lake Park, Helipad, Jwaladevi Te ...

, near Roshanara Bagh in

North Delhi North Delhi is an administrative district of the National Capital Territory of Delhi in India. Alipur is the administrative headquarters of this district. North Delhi is bounded by the Yamuna River and the district of Central Delhi on the eas ...

and it soon became the epicentre of Indian wrestling. Situated in the

region, this akhara is said to have produced some of the brightest Indian wrestlers like

Dara Singh Dara Singh Randhawa (born Deedar Singh Randhawa; 19 November 1928 – 12 July 2012) was an Indian professional wrestler, actor, director and politician. He started acting in 1952 and was the first sportsman to be nominated to the Rajya Sabha ...

, Hans Ram (Post India Best Wrestler), Guru Satpal, Uddal Singh (national champion and multiple time Haryana state champion) Subhash Verma, Virender Singh, Sushil Kumar, Yogendra Kumar, Vishal Trikha, Anuj Chowdhary, Rajiv Tomer, Anil Mann, Sujit Mann, Naveen, and Rakesh Goonga. It is the oldest extant wrestling school in India. The young wrestlers training there are said to have an unshakeable belief that the land is blessed. So much that even when the government offered to provide a 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. In 2014, the wrestling academy was chosen for the 2014 Rashtritya Khel Protsahan Puraskar (RKPP) by Government of India.

References

External links

Guru Hanuman

Moses Of The Mats: Guru Hanuman

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Guru Hanuman Akhara
wikimapia {{DEFAULTSORT:Hanuman, Guru 1901 births 1999 deaths Indian vegetarianism activists Indian wrestling coaches Rajasthani people Road incident deaths in India People associated with physical culture People from Churu district People from Delhi Recipients of the Dronacharya Award Recipients of the Padma Shri in sports Recipients of the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar Sport wrestlers from Delhi