Mallakhamb – 12th Century Pole Dancing

His energy – and the speed at which he blasts through the moves – is astonishing.

• After (literally!) somersaulting onto the pole and climbing, watch his controlled übervert (0.25). Impressively, he starts this by kicking off from the pole, not the ground.
• A little later he gets into the knees variation without holding his foot (0.28) – much more difficult as you need a great deal of core strength to hold your body in place with just your legs.
• There’s a really unusual double knee hold (1.08), followed by a novel take on the recliner (1.13) that he performs on the side of the pole.
• He does a standard gemini (1.18) and then moves into a really interesting crescent moon grip invert (1.25) that I’m going to attempt myself once I’ve finished writing this!
• And it’s not a pole move, but his twisting and contorting around the pole (1.30 onwards) is mesmerising to watch.

Wrestling roots

The origins of mallakhamb can be traced back to the 12th century (possibly disputed), though the art lay largely dormant until it was revived in the first half of the 19th century.

Mallakhamb traditionally forms part of a wrestler’s training regime. In fact modern interest in the sport is said to stem from a young challenger who studied mallakhamb before soundly thrashing two famous opponents in a wrestling bout. Today, 14 states in India compete in national mallakhamb championships.

One for the boys

Perhaps surprisingly from a Western pole dancing perspective, mallakhamb is predominantly a male sport. And boys start early too – to perform competitively, the recommended starting age for training is 8 to 10 years old, while those not interested in winning trophies can wait another couple of years before jumping on the pole.

The mallakhamb pole

Though they’re used in similar ways, a mallakhamb pole is quite different from the pole dancing poles we’re all used to.

Standing 225cm (7' 6") high, the main section tapers from 175mm (7") at the bottom to 95mm (4") at the top, with a narrower 20cm high neck above that. The knob at the top (which the boy in the video stands on) is just 13cm (5") across.

The pole is usually made of teak, chosen because of its toughness and smoothness. Before starting exercise training, both the pole and performer’s body are smeared with castor oil to reduce the friction and harshness of the wood. (Apparently it provides a great massage too!)

Other types of mallakhamb

There are actually two other mallakhamb disciplines as well fixed (or pole) mallakhamb.

• In hanging mallakhamb, a smaller version of the pole is suspended in the air by ropes. Used for balance training, the swinging and rotating instability of the pole makes the exercise even more challenging.
• Rope mallakhamb uses a rope instead of the pole, and is very similar to cordalisse. I’ve trained in cordalisse myself, and can vouch for the difficulty of knotting the rope around your body while getting into yoga or gymnastic positions several metres off the ground! Rope is the only form of mallakhamb in which girls take part – here’s a video of the 2007 championship.

Mallakhamb shmallakhamb…

Maybe it all seems a bit easy for you? Want more of a challenge? Well, you could try these:

• Hatyari mallakhamb – performed with just the arms
• Palita mallakhamb – mallakhamb with a torch
• Candle mallakhamb – on the pole holding candles in the hands or on the head
• Blind mallakhamb – yes, with the eyes closed!

Links

• Yoga in Air – source for quite a bit of this entry
• Mallakhamb India – competition rules, photo gallery and a list of moves (I have no idea what they are though; any ideas?)
• Maharashtra Amature (sic.) Mallakhamb Association
• Some history and other info
• Times of India article on the spread of mallakhamb to other countries

Photos in this article are thumbnails taken from Mallakhamb India.