Mallakhamb

Mallakhamb or malkhamb is a traditional Indian sport. The person competing in it performs different figures in coordination with a pole or rope. The pole is usually made of teak or sheesham wood. Let's now split the word “mallakhamb” in two. Word “malla” means a gymnast or strong man and word “khamb” means a pole. Term mallakhamb was first mentioned in 1135 AD by Somesvara Chalukya in his famous work “Manasollasa”. At the beginning mallakhamb was only one form of practice for wrestlers.

Mallakhamb

National mallakhamb competition was first held in 1958 as part of the National Gymnastics Championships organized at the Pahadganj Stadium in Delhi. There are three basic forms of mallakhamb – pole or fixed mallakhamb, hanging mallakhamb and rope mallakhamb. Women compete only in the rope mallakhamb. There are also team competitions where each team has 3 or 4 members. Special so called pyramid competition is held too. Its purpose is to boost team moral. Between 4 and 16 competitors can participate in it.