Pehelvan Kikkar Singh Sandhu (January 13, 1857 – February 18, 1914) was a

wrestler 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 diffe ...

from

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

(now

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

Life

Singh was born to in a

Sandhu The Sandhu or Sindhu clan (Punjabi: ਸੰਧੂ (Gurmukhi); سندھو (Shahmukhi)) is the second-largest clan of Jats in the Punjab, spanning both India and Pakistan. The Sandhus have had a significant impact on Sikh history, founding several ...

Jat The Jat people (, ), also spelt Jaat and Jatt, are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, many Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in l ...

family to wrestler Javala Singh Sandhu and Sahib Kaur. His parents were

farmers A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer mi ...

of moderate means in the village of Ghanienke,

district (now in

). Singh trained as a wrestler in his mother's native village, Nurpur, under the village

potter A potter is someone who makes pottery. Potter may also refer to: Places United States *Potter, originally a section on the Alaska Railroad, currently a neighborhood of Anchorage, Alaska, US *Potter, Arkansas *Potter, Nebraska *Potters, New Jerse ...

, before returning to Ghanienke to continue training with wrestler Vasava Sing. Singh was already a popular wrestler when he started his tutelage under Buta Pahilvan,

Rustam-i-Hind 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 Koshti pahlevani with influences from native Indian Malla-yuddha. The words ''pehlwani'' an ...

, of Lahore. Singh developed world class skill, and eventually became the leading Indian wrestler. He enjoyed the patronage of the rulers of the princely states of

Jodhpur Jodhpur () is the second-largest city of the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan, after its capital Jaipur. As of 2023, the city has a population of 1.83 million. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Jodhpur district and ...

Indore Indore (; ISO 15919, ISO: , ) is the largest and most populous Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The commercial capital of the state, it has been declared as the List of cleanest cities in India, cleanest city of In ...

Dasuya Dasuya (Dasua) is a town and a municipal council in Hoshiarpur district in the state of Punjab, India. It is one of the major subdivisions with 398 villages under its jurisdiction. This town has a great historical and mythological importance. H ...

, Tonk and

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory since 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered by India as a state from 1952 to 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (prin ...

. There are several theories on why he came to be known as Kikkar Singh. One theory is that he once uprooted a kikkar tree (

acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as wattles or acacias, is a genus of about of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa, South America, and Austral ...

) with his bare hands. Another states that he earned his botanical name due to his extraordinary height and dark complexion, which were uncommon for the time. Kikkar Singh fought and won many bouts during his lifetime. In fact, there were not many competitors to match his strength and skill. However, he lost the last bout of his life. During the

Delhi Durbar The Delhi Durbar ( lit. "Court of Delhi") was an Indian imperial-style mass assembly organized by Britain at Coronation Park, Delhi, India, to mark the succession of an Emperor or Empress of India. Also known as the Imperial Durbar, it was he ...

, held in December 1911 to celebrate the coronation of

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. George was born during the reign of his pa ...

, Singh was challenged by a younger wrestler and an old rival, Kallu of Amritsar. Singh, at 54, was long past his prime and already asthmatic, but he would not let the challenge go unanswered. He put up a considerable fight to the delight of the elite gathering (Maharaja

Bhupinder Singh of Patiala Sir Bhupinder Singh (12 October 1891 – 23 March 1938) was the Maharaja of Patiala and a cricket player. Singh's reign as Maharaja of the princely state of Patiala, in British India, lasted from 1900 to 1938. He was a member of the Phulki ...

and Sardul Singh Caveeshar were among the spectators), but lost. To many eyewitnesses it appeared to be a dubious judgement. Kikkar Singh died on 18 February 1914 in his native village, where a

samadhi Statue of a meditating Rishikesh.html" ;"title="Shiva, Rishikesh">Shiva, Rishikesh ''Samādhi'' (Pali and ), in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, is a state of meditative consciousness. In many Indian religious traditions, the cultivati ...

or memorial shrine has been raised in his memory.

Bibliography

*Joban Sandhu, ''The Encyclopedia of Sikhism''

References

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20090917100751/http://www.allaboutsikhs.com/1800/kikkar-singh-pahilvan.html *https://web.archive.org/web/20110604004544/http://www.jattworld.com/portal/modules/mysections/article.php?lid=44 {{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Kikkar Sportspeople from British India 1857 births 1914 deaths